Doubting Thomas

I was in Mass last week and I remember thinking how beautiful it is that Divine Mercy Sunday intersects with the Gospel about Doubting Thomas. Jesus meets Thomas in his disbelief to which Thomas responds, “My Lord and My God!” 

We’ve met a lot of people who were a “Doubting Thomas” when they learn that God wants to meet you in your financial stresses and needs. But in your suffering is where God can some of his best work! 

Most people do not think that God has anything to do with their finances and they are astounded to find that there are over 2,500 verses in the Bible that relate to money and possessions. Compare that with the fact that there are fewer than 500 verses on prayer and about 500 verses on faith. More than half of the parables are related to money and fifteen percent of everything Jesus said had to do with money. Why does the Bible say so much about money? Probably because God knew how much we would deal with money and how tempting it is for us to misuse it. Think about how much time you spend making money, spending money, or using something you bought with money. It is vital to both our faith and financial lives that we know how to use money wisely according to God’s financial principles.

We live in a world defined by consumerism and excess. Advertisers tell us that we should get everything we want when we want it because we deserve it. Easy credit can provide whatever we desire and provide it quickly. We are influenced to think that having more things means a better life. The more time spend time on social media and watching tv, being inundated by these messages, the more money we spend in an unending quest to be happy. Commercials barrage us with almost non-stop advertising – it’s pretty much everywhere. We even wear advertising on our clothes. 

Just as Thomas had to physically touch Jesus to believe he was the risen Christ, we invite anyone who is a “Doubting Thomas” to experience the joy, peace and contentment that comes from learning what the Bible teaches us about how to handle money and possessions.  Take the Faith & Money Matters or Fe Y Finanzas Bible study and you too can have a conversion experience just as Thomas did. 

No matter how much stuff we want, or how much stuff we have, we can never find happiness or fulfillment in things. True fulfillment can only be reached through a life in Christ. There is no doubt!