Only Believe

Smith Wigglesworth (British evangelist) once said “God wants us so badly that He has made the condition as simple as He possibly could: ‘Only believe.’” 

We have in our heads there are lots of obstacles between us and God.  We think our behaviour keeps us away from God, but in truth, He isn’t watching for us from a distance and waiting for us to slip up. And at the same time, he isn’t waiting for us to go to church on Sunday or for you to pray a ‘proper prayer’.   

God is as close as your next thought because his biggest desire is to spend time with you.   You just need to believe he wants to be part of your life and he will be there. 

When Jesus heard this, he replied, “Do not fear. Only believe”  Luke 8:50

Thomas and his doubts.

So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” John20:25

Thomas, one of Jesus’ original disciples has the reputation of a bad boy.   The title ‘doubting Thomas’ has dogged him for the last two thousand years and I think it’s a bit unfair.  It wasn’t as if Thomas had betrayed Jesus for silver or denied him in public.   When the other disciples told him about Jesus meeting them in the upper room after his death and burial, Thomas was dubious and I reckon his reply was nothing short of sarcasm. 

 If we are honest, most of us would state something along the lines of “I’ll believe it when I see it!” when presented with something that goes beyond the boundary of credibility.   Jesus obviously wasn’t offended by Thomas’ comment, as he was quite happy to go to Thomas and ease his doubts by showing him his scars.

We all have doubts now and then.  But at the same time, I don’t think those doubts offend Jesus.  In fact, I believe it’s his desire to ease those doubts.   We just need to allow Jesus come close enough so he can ease them.

What do you think?