I wonder if part of what is wrong with so many Christians is that we no longer really listen to what the Bible actually says. We have heard these lessons for so long that we take them for granted, and in doing so the wonder and mystery of our faith is lost. We hear that God split the Red Sea so that the people of Israel could cross over on dry ground, and we act as if that is an every day occurrence. We hear that as Israel made their way across a bleak and barren desert that God fed them every day with manna and quail and water from a rock. In response to those wonders we shrug our shoulders without as much as a second thought.

This same thing happens with reports of events from throughout the life of Jesus. Of course he raised Lazarus from the dead. Of course he fed five thousand with two fish and five loaves of bread. Of course he walked on the water and turned water into wine. Of course he was born of a virgin at the beginning of his life, and of course he was raised from the dead at the end of his life. None of the other disciples believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead until they saw him with their own eyes. Why do we criticize Thomas because he wanted that same experience? Is it because we take the biblical story for granted? Is it because we are no longer listening to what it says about what God was doing?

Maybe the reason why Thomas did not believe the report that he received was because he did not trust those persons who were speaking. I can imagine that Thomas looked over at Peter and said, "why should I believe anything that you have to say about Jesus? The last time his name came up, you were the one who said that you did not even know who he was. You weren't telling the truth then, so how do I know that you are telling the truth now?" He could have looked around the room and said something similar to all of the other disciples. All of them had deserted Jesus. None of them stood by his side at the critical hour. Maybe Thomas did not believe what they said because he had no confidence in their integrity.

What a shame it is when our lifestyle gets in the way of our testimony. We are busy trying to tell other people about Jesus, but all they can really do is notice that our "walk" does not match our "talk." I am informed by our slave ancestors who sang a song entitled, "I Got Shoes." That song says, in part:

I got shoes, you got shoes,
All of God's children got shoes,
When I get to heaven gonna' put on my shoes,
Gonna walk all over God's heaven.

Then they sang these words:

Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't going there…

Our challenge in life is not only to talk about heaven, but to be sure that we are qualified to go there. In order for that to happen we have to have a verbal testimony for Jesus Christ that is not offset by any aspect of our daily living.