5 Lessons from the life of Thomas

Today, there are many Bible characters from whom we learn so much about and make reference to. One of these many Bible Characters is Thomas. If you have ever heard someone say something like “Don’t be a doubtful Thomas”, then you have a great clue already.

 

While I was growing up, I was curious as to why a disciple of Jesus Christ was called a doubtful person. I wondered the essence of the word “faith” if we still have to tag a disciple of Jesus as “the doubting Thomas”. My curiosity also asked if Thomas’ doubt was the only thing we could learn from him. So, I decided to dig further and here are my findings.

The Bible in the book of John 20:1-31 shows us the many other things in answer to my question. Studying through, I can see that there is more to learn from the story of Thomas. As such, in the next few lines, I’d be sharing a few lessons from the life of the disciple, Thomas.

1. Learn to Build Faith without Doubt 

In John 20:24-25, Thomas told the other disciples that until he see Jesus and confirm if he is truly the one he can't believe, yet Jesus and the disciples still didn't hold it against him. They still stood with him giving him reason to believe to the extent that Jesus himself have to show himself again telling him to touch the hole in his hands just to clear his doubt. This attribute shows how Jesus cares even when we are in doubt he care so much that he is ready to clear our doubt, he won't condemn us.

2. Thomas was Brave and Courageous

In John 11:16, we see a contrary side to the popular character of Thomas when he shows bravery even to the point of death. We later read in Bible history recorded according to Syrian Christian tradition, that Thomas was killed with a spear at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai on 3 July in AD 72, and his body was interred in Mylapore. Today, the Latin Church tradition holds 21 December as his date of death.

Even when other disciples were afraid to go to Judea he encouraged them to go to Judea with Jesus even if it meant dying with him. This makes me wonder why he had doubt if Jesus could really be the one they actually saw.

3. Draw the lines between Emotions, Feelings, Common Sense and Faith in God

Studying the life of Thomas, I realized that he likely suffered great shock from the trauma and the pain Jesus went through. It must have had a toll on him so much to shake him, making him difficult to believe he can still live without Jesus. This is usually the same feeling  when a believer is bereaved or has lost someone dear.

This makes me realize no matter how close we are to Jesus, no matter how deep our relationship is with Jesus our humanity, our emotions is still much more alive and it is the presence of Jesus that can help us through. 

3) John 14 vs 5 here we learn that Jesus cares about everything about even our questions, no matter how foolish it sounds we should not be afraid to ask him he will surely answer just as Thomas did when he was unsure what Jesus is saying.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, the story of Thomas pass a message across to us that even though we were not privilege to walk side by side with Jesus yet believe him there is a blessing for us in John 20:29