Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (John 20:29, NIV)
Learning golf in my youth, I always thought conditionally. If I did one thing, another would follow. Thoughts of mastery did not enter my mind because some condition had to be met.
Possessing enough talent to think I might and lacking enough to believe I would prevented me from believing in myself. Golf is a game upon which you come alongside but never own. Today, there are simply days I trust my swing and days I do not. Yet…
I have come to believe.
This statement evokes thought. If the emphasis is placed on the word “come,” the word suggests time and place. If I have come, I have come from somewhere and at a particular time I arrived.
Arrival becomes the essence of the word and expresses some truth or something true I now believe. There is a sense of traveling or wandering involved in the word.
If emphasis is placed on believe, the meaning alters my thinking. I can infer I once believed one thing but now, I believe another. Something causal brought about the change, some evidence I now know and did not before. I can say I believe because I wondered about my beliefs and sought understanding.
I realize if time (movement) is involved, I can move either away or toward a certain belief. But also, I should consider there was a place from where this belief came and this place demands from me my best critical discernment and inquiry.
Rising from the narrative stories in Genesis, there are two places from where beliefs can come. The one is the fallen nature of man in the world, the “what I see” character of my nature and mankind’s actions. The other sources are the “what I cannot see,” the person of God and my relationship with Him. Where I spend my time informs me.
After His resurrection, when Jesus appeared to His disciples, Thomas was not there. Upon hearing the news, Thomas needed to see to believe. And when he did, he believed.
The Hebrew word for believe is aman. Its meaning conveys firmness, certainty, and permanence. Condense the meaning into the word trust, and you possess its essence.
In His encounter with Thomas, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If I can paraphrase our Lord, he said, “Come, trust me, for what I say is true and truth.”
Today, Christians struggle with the ever-present imposition of cultural theology, a shifting sand of topics and ideas vying for our belief system, for what is true and what is truth.
To adopt these beliefs, at some point, means they will no longer be accepted. Cultural theology is a fashion. If a firm foundation is sought, where does this leave the seeker? It serves us well to ask the critical question, “From where do these ideas come?” The next question is, “To where should I go?”
I have learned not to go to the ghostly “they say” people who constitute the voice of cultural theology. I have learned to go to God in prayer, to study His word, to seek a firmer understanding of what He wishes me to know.
I have discovered it is unchanging, permanent, certain, and firm. He assures my understanding as He has prepared me and no sooner. He allows me truth against what is false from what “they say.”
I have come to trust in Jesus, though I cannot see Him.
Prayer: Jesus, teach me to discern between truth and error.