Daily Devotional July 30, 2023

 


On the day of His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and showed them His hands and feet. We are told that at first, they could not believe for joy - it appeared too wonderful to be true (Luke 24:40-41), Thomas was not with the disciples, but he also had trouble believing until he saw for himself. When Jesus appeared to Thomas and told him to put his fingers in the nail holes and his hand in His side, Thomas cried, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).

Later, as Paul told the Philippians of his own suffering, he also declared Jesus as Lord. He testified that he had come to the place where he considered all his experiences as loss "for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil. 3:8). You and I have never seen Jesus calm a storm or raise someone from the dead. We haven't sat at His feet on a Galilean hillside and heard Him teach. But through eyes of faith, we have been spiritually healed by His death on our behalf. Thus, we can join Thomas and Paul and countless others in acknowledging Jesus as our Lord.

Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). When we believe, we too can call Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" Though we cannot see Him with our eyes, we can believe with our heart - He is Lord!

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