"True Confidence"

"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29 KJV) 

  "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him and you rejoice with a glorious inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8-9 NLT)

 Hopefully this has been something that has caused us to think about foolish doubt, because there is more satisfaction in believing! When we doubt, we can become weak and sick, sometimes even feel as though we don't deserve to live; so why waste the chance to feel alive and be someone with a purpose! What a difference it makes to have true confidence in what you have been made for: To serve your King! 

 By the way, Jesus did not say anything about the expression Thomas made, except that he has believed in Him by seeing Him! What that means, is that Thomas expressed who Jesus was: 'Lord and God!' You really can't get much clearer than that! This is really a pretty big deal, because a good Jewish boy like Thomas would not have used the LORD'S name in vain; just saying!  

 Having been though the fire, (maybe still in it,) I can say with true confidence that I believe my faith is real and that I am looking forward to getting into Heaven. Even with that, there are still days when I might feel as though I am not worthy; but that is only because I am not! It is only because of the blood of Jesus that I am clean enough to get into Heaven; nothing is about me; it is all about Christ Jesus! 

 Therefore, put all of your confidence in Jesus Christ and the work He finished on the cross! Thou you cannot see Him, you can know that it is true; though you did not see Him after He rose, you can also know that is true, too, because all of His followers did not deny it, even to the death! That is true confidence...

"So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body." (2 Corinthians 5:6-10 NLT)