{"id":337,"date":"2016-06-19T14:01:36","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T14:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/?p=337"},"modified":"2016-06-19T14:01:36","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T14:01:36","slug":"school-of-leaders-june-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"School of Leaders – June 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faith is Believing Without Seeing<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

John 20:24-29 addresses the call to believe without seeing, but Thomas wasn\u2019t willing.\u00a0 The importance of this event lies in the fact that it presents the relation between seeing and believing.\u00a0 More specifically, it shows the significance of believing after, or because of, having seen the risen Christ, and believing without having seen him.<\/p>\n

The example of doubting Thomas provides both instruction and encouragement.\u00a0 After being told by the other disciples of Jesus\u2019 resurrection and personal visit, Thomas \u201cdoubted\u201d and wanted physical proof of the risen Lord in order to believe this good news.\u00a0 The testimony Thomas received from the other 10 disciples about Jesus\u2019 return should have been enough, but still he doubted – even after spending three years being intimately acquainted with Jesus, witnessing all His miracles and hearing His prophecies about His coming death and resurrection.<\/p>\n

The event occurred eight days after the appearance of Jesus to the other disciples.\u00a0 After greeting them with the traditional, \u201cPeace be with you,\u201d without any delay Jesus turns to Thomas and addresses him; knowing his human frailty resulted in weakened faith, He accommodated Thomas by inviting him to proceed with the demanded test.<\/p>\n

The doubt Thomas experienced is not unlike our own when we face challenges in our life.\u00a0 Although Thomas did in fact doubt the Lord\u2019s resurrection appearance, once he saw the risen Christ, he proclaimed in faith, \u201cMy Lord and my God\u201d (Jn. 20:28).\u00a0 Jesus commended him for his faith, although that faith was based on sight.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBecause you have seen me, you have believed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The encouraging part for all of us today is when Jesus also says, \u201cBlessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (Jn. 20:29),\u201d thus enabling us to believe that which we do not see with our eyes. This same thought is echoed by Peter, who said of Christ, \u201cAlthough you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.\u201d (1 Peter 1:8-9<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Although we have the Spirit within us, we can still experience doubt.\u00a0 True saving faith always perseveres to the end just as Thomas\u2019s did, and just as Peter\u2019s did after he had a monumental moment of weakness by denying the Lord he loved and believed in.<\/p>\n

So how do we keep from doubting as Thomas did?\u00a0 We must go to God in prayer when experiencing doubt.\u00a0 Sanctification is the process of growing in Him, which includes times of doubt and times of great faith.\u00a0 Like the man who brought his demon-possessed child to Jesus but was unsure whether Jesus could help him, we go to God because we believe in Him and ask Him for more and greater faith to overcome our doubts, saying, \u201cI do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!\u201d (Mark 9:17-27<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts:<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cFaith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.\u201d\u00a0 Martin Luther<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.\u201d
\nThomas Aquinas<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faith is Believing Without Seeing John 20:24-29 addresses the call to believe without seeing, but Thomas wasn\u2019t willing.\u00a0 The importance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}