Have you ever thought the disciple Thomas got a bad rap? Because he wanted proof of Jesus’ resurrection, he was dubbed a nickname that has lived on in perpetuity—Doubting Thomas.

True, Thomas had doubts about what he heard from the other disciples about Jesus’ resurrection. He had heard Jesus say he would rise from the dead, and he had seen Jesus raise others. Still, this wasn’t a common occurrence. He wanted to know for himself that Jesus had truly risen.

I’m guessing many of us have struggled with spiritually related doubts at one time or another: How can God love someone like me? Is there really a heaven? What if I’m not a good enough Christian to get there? In his book Wishful Thinking, Presbyterian theologian Frederick Buechner wrote, “If you don’t have any doubts, you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”*

Thomas’ doubt didn’t cause him to blow off the claims of the other disciples and walk away. Rather, it led him to seek the truth from the very source—Jesus.

Because of sin, humankind will always be plagued with spiritual doubts. Let’s face it, the story of a “God [who] so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [to die in our place], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) defies human logic.

When spiritual doubts arise for you, be like Thomas and seek Jesus!

*Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (San Francisco: Harper One, 1993).