September 25, 2022
Daily Devotion:
“Faith Without Fact is Only Wishful Thinking…“
John 20:6-7
New International Version
6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
The burial cloth was folded up? Has that minute detail ever caught your even? It was folded! So what? Here's what! It is a priceless clue worthy of the finest, most mysterious whodunits. Surely we are not simply to believe that Jesus was a neat freak. But neither is any grave robber. Who, hurriedly stealing away Jesus' body, would have taken the time to fold the burial cloth? Remember all the controversy (to this day) over whether Jesus was really and truly raised from the dead or whether Jesus' disciples had surreptitiously removed his body from the tomb? The wide-ranging implications are crucial, not the least of which is our own hope of being resurrected. When Doubting Thomas insisted on seeing the nail wounds in Jesus' hands, he was not alone in wanting solid evidence. Who of us doesn't? After all, we are staking our very faith on it! And you and I are twenty centuries removed from the event! No wonder Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen my wounds as you have and yet have believed.” Do you ever wonder why we believe what we do? Is it because we simply want to believe Indeed, what makes people believe in non-Christian faiths? Are we all following blindly along. Taking the word of our families or teachers that our particular belief system is superior to all others? For true seekers, belief will always be a leap of faith- but faith without fact is only wishful thinking. No surprise, then, that John tells us he recorded Jesus' Miracles so that you and I might believe in Jesus, through whom alone we can have eternal life.
The urgent question is: If I Don't yet have faith in Jesus, have I simply ignored the overwhelming evidence?
