Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 20:28 “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’"
John didn’t tell us if Thomas actually touched Jesus’ hands and side. He had seen enough to be convinced that standing in front of him, was the resurrected Christ. He declared what everyone who believes declares. Jesus is Lord of all, and Jesus is God. That is what we proclaim as we witness to the resurrection.
Some say Jesus is a good example to follow. Others suggest He is just another way to God along with the ways of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Many dismiss Him as a mythical construction.
What do you call Jesus? If anyone calls Him Lord and God, then you can be sure they know He lives. They also, like Thomas, understand that Jesus knows and loves them.
May we be faithful witnesses to Jesus as we submit ourselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Let us honor Him as the Lord God Almighty.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
Jesus knew what Thomas had said about his hands and side. They were the wounds that killed Jesus and perhaps that’s why Thomas didn’t say he wanted to see and touch his head and back. He had to know those wounds were healed. Thomas didn’t say he had to put his finger in the nail hole, but in the place where the nails were. What did he think he would find? A hole or a whole hand? This is clearly speculation, but I think he thought that if Jesus was alive those wounds would be healed.
Jesus had not been there when Thomas told the disciples that he wouldn’t believe unless he put his fingers in the places where Jesus was nailed and pierced. Yet Jesus knew what Thomas needed in order to believe. From this we may conclude He knows all of His brothers and sisters as well.
As we live to love with Jesus we may have confidence that Jesus is at work. We know He knows the hearts of everyone He puts in our paths, and when it pleases Him He will reveal Himself.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 20:26 “After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’"
Just like Jesus appeared the first time to the disciples, He materialized in a closed room and stood in their midst. Again He said, “Peace be with you.” It was important to Jesus and to John that Thomas was present. He wanted his readers to know of Jesus’ love for Thomas. Maybe it was because John wanted to encourage those who want proof that Jesus lives. The risen Christ not only appeared once, but twice, to them just for Thomas’ sake.
This gives us confidence to encourage people who doubt or question the reality of Jesus’ resurrection to seek Him and settle for nothing less than a personal encounter with Jesus. Jesus will give them His peace and the Holy Spirit.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 20:24-25 “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’”
Before we judge Thomas too quickly or harshly, let’s consider the bright side. Thomas wanted to have first hand experience with the risen Christ. I don’t blame him, so would I. Is it enough for us that God’s word tells us that God is love and that He loves us? For some, yes, that’s enough. For others, who want to be touched deeply, just hearing about God’s love isn’t enough. They want to experience His love first hand. Furthermore, I think of John’s opening to his first epistle where he wrote, 1 John 1:1-2 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life —and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —“ Did you hear that? We have looked at and touched with our hands. That’s what Thomas is known for. That’s his testimony. I touched the risen Word of Life with my own hands, so I can testify with confidence that He died and lives. We can have peace with God and fellowship with Him and each other.
To live to love with Jesus, we must have Him with us. We want to see Him, touch Him, and be touched by Him. We are living testimonies of the grace of God to a sin-trapped, death enslaved world. May we have the same desire as Thomas to be fully engaged with Jesus and surrendered to the reality of His resurrection life in us.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

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John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
Notice that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is a ministry of discernment. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." They will have the ability to discern what God has and hasn’t done. Another way to think of the blessing Jesus gives through the Holy Spirit is this: The Holy Spirit enables us to keep in step with what God is doing in and through our lives and the lives of others. We learn from this verse that it’s not a given that everyone’s sins are to be forgiven. We need the Holy Spirit to know when to affirm the work of forgiveness in the lives of the people God puts in our paths. We also need to know when God has not worked. We conclude that if God has forgiven someone’s sins, then He would give them a spirit of repentance and conviction of sin. They know clearly what they have done and are aware they need forgiveness. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment as we listen and watch how they respond to their own sins. In contrast, if God has withheld forgiveness from a person, the Holy Spirit knows it because He has not done the work of conviction, brokenness, and repentance. The Holy Spirit then will not witness to us that God is at work, and so we will withhold encouraging them that their sins are forgiven.
What we learn from this passage is that our relationship with the Holy Spirit is vital if we are going to live to love with Jesus. We need His discernment to recognize those in whom God has worked his gracious work of repentance and forgiveness.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com