'Lessons of Life'
Inspiration

It seems a bit strange that April has just arrived, and Easter 2008 was observed over a week ago. Someone gave me a short article about the past and future dates of Easter which stated that it has been 95 years since the last time Easter came on March 23, and it will be another 220 years before it falls on that date again. (I did not do any research to verify the accuracy of these statements, but it sounded interesting to me.) However, the truth about Easter that we should focus on is its authenticity historically and its meaning to us personally today. Even though this wonderful Christian observance has come and gone for another year, we should train ourselves to remember everyday the loving sacrifice that Christ made for us and the impact that His work has on us today and for all eternity.

When you read the Easter story in the Bible, you will quickly discover that the reality of Resurrection Day did not cease to be of the utmost of importance on the day after. Indeed, Christ's resurrection from the dead remained at the center of the early Christians' lives--they understood how very different His rising from the dead made Christianity from all other religious systems. As Paul stated it, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (I Corinthians 15:17,20, NIV). Yet in spite of the great and gracious provisions of our Lord, we sometimes struggle with our faith; doubts come in moments of weakness. That was not foreign to those of Christ's day either.

Perhaps we give him more credit for being a doubter than we really should, but Thomas struggled in his belief regarding the resurrected Christ even as others expressed their exhilaration over what they had seen and heard on that first Easter Sunday. In the midst of it all, Thomas went so far as to put some direct stipulations on his willingness to believe what he was being told: "But he said to them, 'Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it'" (John 20:25). From the natural way of thinking, these were reasonable requests, but in the spiritual world they run in opposition to the basic nature of faith, for Scripture reminds us that "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1).

As the story of Thomas unfolds, John 20 states that when Christ appeared to Thomas He invited Him to touch His nail scarred hands and feet, and His side that had been wounded by the sword. Thomas then reached the place that the Lord desired him to reach as he proclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" (verse 28).

In this account we are reminded by the Lord of how He honors those who are willing to believe in Him: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (verse 29).

May you be blessed today as you willingly trust Him, even though you have not seen Him. And if you, like Thomas, are struggling in some areas of your faith, ask Christ to help you reach that place where you can express to Him with sincerity, "My Lord and my God!"