Friends in Christ, John 20:24-29
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
What fact that this gospel story underscores is that believing is a choice. Often we forget about that—believing is a choice. Believing is a choice, and not believing is a choice.
Now there are probably people who imagine that they don’t believe anything unless they see it, but that’s never true. That is never true! Everyone believes something about life. It could be extremely negative, or it could be very positive. But we do choose to believe, and we do find meaning because we are more or less programmed to, although that’s not exactly the right word because a program takes place without thinking and without consciousness, but believing doesn’t. We are constantly urged by our very nature to seek meaning.
However, we can find it in very negative ways, or we can allow our sense of importance or our sense of value to be diverted from true, life-giving values into other things like possessions. Someone who accumulates a great deal of money, for example, believes in money, believes in the power of money, believes in the value of accumulating money, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. That’s a belief. Someone who spends an entire life practicing law believes in law. It’s a belief. It may be only for personal gain, or it may be for some higher value, but it’s a belief anyway.
Ulterior motives are not the same thing, but they are related to belief. An atheist is not simply a person without belief. An atheist actually has beliefs about the nature of reality that happens to exclude a personal God. So there are many religions also that exclude a personal God. We don’t have to belabor the point. The fact is everyone has beliefs. Are ours life-giving?
Poor Thomas was hard on himself, and therefore he was hard on his fellow apostles, and therefore he didn’t believe them. It was too good to be true, so it couldn’t be true. Jesus was a little bit hard on him precisely because we are our own worst enemies when it comes to beliefs. When we choose the hard way, we are just making life difficult for ourselves. When we demand that life prove itself to us, that God prove himself to us, that God prove how good he is or that he loves us, we are making life difficult for ourselves. We don’t have to. We could just accept it. We could accept it because if we open our eyes, it’s right in front of us. If we will to see it, it’s evident. If we do not will to see it, it’s not evident. It’s all controlled by our choices. So be easy on yourself—not becoming credulous, which means believing anything without any sense. But it means being open to what God is speaking inside your heart, and what God is speaking within nature itself. The message is the same. It’s a message of goodness, of providence, of acceptance. Be not unbelieving!
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
What fact that this gospel story underscores is that believing is a choice. Often we forget about that—believing is a choice. Believing is a choice, and not believing is a choice.
Now there are probably people who imagine that they don’t believe anything unless they see it, but that’s never true. That is never true! Everyone believes something about life. It could be extremely negative, or it could be very positive. But we do choose to believe, and we do find meaning because we are more or less programmed to, although that’s not exactly the right word because a program takes place without thinking and without consciousness, but believing doesn’t. We are constantly urged by our very nature to seek meaning.
However, we can find it in very negative ways, or we can allow our sense of importance or our sense of value to be diverted from true, life-giving values into other things like possessions. Someone who accumulates a great deal of money, for example, believes in money, believes in the power of money, believes in the value of accumulating money, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. That’s a belief. Someone who spends an entire life practicing law believes in law. It’s a belief. It may be only for personal gain, or it may be for some higher value, but it’s a belief anyway.
Ulterior motives are not the same thing, but they are related to belief. An atheist is not simply a person without belief. An atheist actually has beliefs about the nature of reality that happens to exclude a personal God. So there are many religions also that exclude a personal God. We don’t have to belabor the point. The fact is everyone has beliefs. Are ours life-giving?
Poor Thomas was hard on himself, and therefore he was hard on his fellow apostles, and therefore he didn’t believe them. It was too good to be true, so it couldn’t be true. Jesus was a little bit hard on him precisely because we are our own worst enemies when it comes to beliefs. When we choose the hard way, we are just making life difficult for ourselves. When we demand that life prove itself to us, that God prove himself to us, that God prove how good he is or that he loves us, we are making life difficult for ourselves. We don’t have to. We could just accept it. We could accept it because if we open our eyes, it’s right in front of us. If we will to see it, it’s evident. If we do not will to see it, it’s not evident. It’s all controlled by our choices. So be easy on yourself—not becoming credulous, which means believing anything without any sense. But it means being open to what God is speaking inside your heart, and what God is speaking within nature itself. The message is the same. It’s a message of goodness, of providence, of acceptance. Be not unbelieving!
Thanks be to God.
With every good wish in Christ,
Ed Bakker
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