Reputations are impossible to change.
Just ask Thomas who famously said, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Though he’d heard stories by dozens of eye witnesses, he stubbornly refused to believe the account of his fellow disciples and friends.
Like many of us, he drew a line in the sand and declared specific conditions be met before he’d back down. Leaders of nations do this. Married couples do this. Kids, moms, and dads do this. Sound familiar?
In Thomas we see ourselves.
Jesus could have refused Thomas for being stubborn and hard hearted, but what I love so much about our Savior is that He knows each person’s heart. He saw something in Thomas— a deeply disappointed heart, a heart that hurt so badly over his loss that he couldn’t see past the pain to hope again. To choose to believe again, to open his heart to love again, felt like too great a risk.
Jesus gently, lovingly, without any condemnation said to His still-beloved Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.” Immediately Thomas declared, “My Lord and My God!”
Jesus graciously added these beautiful words for us: “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” He is pleased that I believe and follow without having seen Him. But some day…ah some day, I will lay my eyes on my precious Savior!
Sometimes our line in the sand isn’t voiced audibly, but defines us nonetheless. Will you ask Him to search you and know your heart? Will you grow a reputation for believing God in all circumstances of your life, even against all odds?
