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The Moment of Belief

July 21, 2026
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Daily Scripture

John 20:24-29

24 Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”

26 After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!”

28 Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”

Daily Reflection & Prayer

Note: This week’s GPS draws on lyrics from two of the most popular songs from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, “Golden” and “What It Sounds Like”.

Song Lyrics:

I’m done hidin’, now I’m shinin’ like I’m born to be
We dreamin’ hard, we came so far, now I believe
We’re goin’ up, up, up, it’s our moment
You know together we’re glowin’
Gonna be, gonna be golden*

Today’s song lyrics carry that same turn, moving from “I don’t know how to feel” into a flat, certain “now I believe,” and the shift isn’t explained so much as it just happens. Thomas knew that gap well. He’d heard the other disciples say Jesus was alive, and it hadn’t moved him an inch. He needed to see it himself, and when he finally did, he didn’t need a debate. He just said, “My Lord and my God.” But Jesus’ actual response wasn’t really about Thomas anymore. “Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe” — that’s the line written for the rest of us, the ones who never get to press a finger into a wound. Thomas got the miracle. We get the blessing.

  • Today’s song lyrics don’t argue their way into belief; they just arrives, as though something finally clicked into place. What experiences have led me to recognize a deeper truth that words alone could not explain? When has my faith or belief emerged from something I experienced rather than something I reasoned my way toward?
  • Thomas didn’t get talked out of his doubt, ; he saw Jesus standing in front of him and his doubt vanished. Jesus didn’t shame Thomas for needing proof. In what area of my life am I asking for proof before I choose to trust? What has my waiting revealed about my heart, my expectations, and my faith?
Prayer

Risen Lord, thank you for meeting Thomas in his doubt instead of dismissing it. Meet me in whatever I’m still waiting to believe, and let today be a day I recognize you rather than argue my way toward you. Amen.

GPS Insights

Picture of David Anderson

David Anderson

I have always loved Thomas. People are often hard on him, calling him “Doubting Thomas” and throwing him under the bus because of his lack of faith. But I think Thomas’ request was entirely reasonable. A week earlier, in John 20:20, Jesus had shown the other disciples his hands and his side. Thomas was asking for exactly what they had already received.
When Jesus comes, he doesn’t shame Thomas or scold him. He simply says, “Peace be with you,” and invites him to see the wounds for himself. Thomas responds with the strongest confession of faith in John’s Gospel: “My Lord and my God!”
As I sit with this story, I think about the people who genuinely want to believe but struggle to do so. They hear stories about Jesus changing lives, yet they haven’t experienced him the way others have. Sometimes what they have seen in Christians has made belief even harder. They long for what the disciples—and Thomas—received: a reason to say, “He really is alive.”
That is why Jesus’ final words in this passage matter so much. “Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe” is not a call to blind faith. It is Jesus’ blessing for everyone who would come after the disciples—including us. We believe because someone told us, someone showed us, and through that witness we came to know Christ ourselves.
The question this passage leaves with me is simple: If we are the witnesses now, what are we showing the world that makes it easier—not harder—for others to believe?
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References

* “Golden,” performed by Huntr/x (EJAE, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami), from KPop Demon Hunters (Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix, 2025). Written by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, and The Black Label (IDO). Soundtrack released by Republic Records. 

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