Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:27-29)
Dee and I spent the weekend in northern Minnesota. Saturday night we selected a new church to visit on Easter Sunday morning with the family. It’s always an interesting thing visiting a new church – what is the pastor like, what is the worship music like, and what are all the people like? About 50% of the way through the sermon, it became clear that this particular message was going to resonate for a long time. Towards the end of the message, the pastor posed a question as to why most people reject Jesus as their savior. He offered two reasons:
1) The story is just too good to be true. Why would God send his only Son to die for me - given my track record, my sinfulness, etc.
2) The story is one I don’t want to believe is true. If the story about Jesus is true and He died for me, I really don’t want to give up X, Y, and Z to believe in Him.
To the question of whether the story was too good be true, he reasoned that yes God indeed loves us that much. Even if there was one person on the planet, he still would have humbled himself, lived a sinless life, and died an excruciating death to save that one person.
As for #2, I think my cousin just summed this up best on Facebook: “I know I am a very young Christian and have so much to learn, but I really am ready to learn it. I now realize that life is much easier and better with Christ in it. How did I ever get by before?”
I pray that we all may come to that same place – to one day put all the misconceptions, doubts, and fears about the Lord aside, and come to trust and believe in Him. Happy Easter!