DOUBTS, DISAPPOINTMENT, AND GENUINE HOPE

“After every crucifixion is a resurrection.”

This is always how our God works, but it is still hard to believe. We have had lots of deaths without resurrection, losses without restorations. Dreams for good things that we had in our 20s may have died in our 30s…with seemingly no hope of ever happening. We have lost loved ones. The end of a treasured relationship or death of person has left us feeling lost, defeated, deeply disappointed.

This is what “doubting” Thomas felt after he witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and death. He had high hopes that died with Jesus. The courage that he had to go “all in” with his friend and Rabbi was spent as he saw that friend overwhelmed by the power of Rome, then the power of death. I can’t blame Thomas for hearing about Jesus’ resurrection and wanting definitive proof. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Every death, every loss has a different purpose in our God’s way of shaping our lives. Everything that he allows to die becomes the soil that he uses to grow something new, something alive!

He shows this- definitively- in the resurrection of Jesus.

This is hard to believe. But it is true. It’s the center of faith in Jesus. If Jesus isn’t alive then Christianity is merely a myth to study…but not person to follow. But, if Jesus is alive (and he is!) then he is worth trusting wholeheartedly, even through our disappointed doubts.