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b'I\\u2019m just gonna say it\\u2014I think Thomas the disciple, commonly known as \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153Doubting Thomas,\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d gets a bad rap. When the other disciples witnessed the risen Christ, Thomas was absent. Thomas said he wanted visible, tangible proof of Jesus\\u2019 resurrection, saying, \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153If I don\\u2019t see the mark of the nails in his hands\\u2026and put my hand into his side, I will never believe\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d (John 20:25).\\nIt\\u2019s easy to criticize Thomas for his unbelief, but I\\u2019m not sure I would be any better. Would I take the word of the other eleven disciples? Would I really believe Jesus had risen from the dead? Thomas loved Jesus deeply. So fervent was his love for the Savior that in John 11:16 he was willing to follow Jesus into possible death when Jesus wanted to go to Bethany.\\nPerhaps Thomas wanted evidence of the risen Christ not because he was apathetic but because he felt the intense hurt when Jesus died. Death is painful, separating loved ones and drawing us into profound grief. Even Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35). Death is unnatural, a consequence of the curse of sin, yet Jesus has overcome the power of sin through His death and overcome the power of death through His resurrection.\\nThe good news is, the story doesn\\u2019t end with Thomas\\u2019s doubt. A week after Thomas\\u2019s statement of unbelief, Jesus reappeared in the upper room where the disciples had gathered behind locked doors. Jesus confronted Thomas and invited him to touch His hands and His side\\u2014to touch the very wounds Thomas had said he needed to see.\\nThomas immediately believed, saying \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153My Lord and my God!\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d (John 20:27-28). In fact, church tradition says Thomas spent his life as a missionary and died at the point of a spear. He devoted his life to sharing the good news of the resurrection with those who had not seen the risen Christ in person. He may have doubted in the upper room, but he had no doubts about Jesus for the rest of his life. \\u2022 Mike Hurley\\n\\u2022 Do you think \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153Doubting Thomas\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d is an accurate label?\\n\\u2022 Why is it hard to believe Jesus without seeing Him? Read John 20:30-31 and 1 Peter 1:3-12. Why was the gospel of John\\u2014and the rest of the Bible\\u2014written? \\n\\u2022 Read Psalm 34:8, Hebrews 4:14-16, and James 1:5. Why can we come to God when we have questions? Why can we trust Him?\\nBut these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31 (CSB)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nJohn 20:24-31'