March 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

John 20:19-31:

¹⁹Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
²⁰And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.
²¹Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
²³Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
²⁵The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
²⁶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
²⁷Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
²⁸And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.
²⁹Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
³⁰And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
³¹But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Devotional

Does our faith need strengthening? Do we wish that it would increase and abound? Perhaps as we look back over the week that is drawing to a close we are truly disturbed because our trust in the Lord was not as robust as it should have been-our conviction of union with Him and of His powerful and loving presence with us was not sufficiently distinct and vigorous. Our prayer may well be that in the coming week our faith will grow.

One essential way that our Lord has provided to strengthen our faith is through His Word. When we read again, for example, of the signs that Jesus performed in the presence of His disciples, our faith should be renewed and developed. The Holy Spirit uses His infallible Word not only in the conversion of men, but also in the growth and development of the Christian life. We sometimes pray that unbelievers by reading the Gospel of John may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. But we who have already been given faith by the Spirit can turn to that same Gospel and to the entire Word of God for the nourishing and revitalizing of our own faith.

In the coming week let us make faithful use of the mighty Word of our God, praying that He will mightily use that Word in the strengthening of our faith.

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)