You Are One of the Twelve What?

And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again - 2 Corinthians 5:15

One of the Apostles, one of the 12 who are named in the New Testament was named Didymus (meaning twin) or to you and I Thomas (Which is actually a derivative of the word twin) .

Thomas appears in just a few passages in the Gospel of John. In John 11:16, when Lazarus has just died, the disciples are resisting Jesus' decision to return to Judea, where the Jews had previously tried to stone Jesus. Jesus is determined, and Thomas says bravely: "Let us also go, that we might die with him" .

He also speaks at The Last Supper in John 14:5. Jesus assures his disciples that they know where He is going, but Thomas protests that they don't know at all. Jesus replies to this and to Philip's requests with a detailed exposition of his relationship to God the Father.

In Thomas' best known appearance in the New Testament, John 20:24-29, he doubts the resurrection of Jesus and demands to touch Jesus' wounds before being convinced. This story is the origin of the term Doubting Thomas. After seeing Jesus alive (the Bible never states whether Thomas actually touched Christ's wounds), Thomas professed his faith in Jesus, exclaiming "My Lord and my God!"; on this account he is also called Thomas the Believer.

Not much beyond this, other than some church tradition is known about Thomas. But Thomas was one of the twelve.

It is believed that there were about 5,000 and perhaps as many as 8,000 believers during the time Jesus padded the lanes of the Holy Land. Among those believers, it was thought there were three types. The largest number of believers were those who came to Jesus for salvation. They served Him very little beyond coming to Him to receive salvation.

A much smaller number, probably no more than 500, actually followed Him and served Him and ministered. There lives can be described as connected to Jesus but not consumed by His message nor His mission.

Then, there were the disciples. These were those who identified with Jesus. They lived the life that Jesus lived. Each of these ultimately died in difficult circumstances. They experienced the hardships, the miracles, and the fellowship with God in human form. They truly were a band of brothers.

If you had to say which group best represented your life, which one would you fall into - the 5,000 who simply believed, the 500 who followed and sought to implement what they were learning from the Savior, or the 12 who identified fully with the life and mission of the Savior?

Jesus has called each of us to identify with Him completely. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did - 1 Jn. 2:5b-6.

I am praying this morning for a breakthrough for myself. The breakthrough is that I begin to believe the verse that I just typed above. I need to pray that whatever dispossesses me from making this commitment to grab his hand and hold on tight is loosed from within me and tossed on some proverbial refuse heap. You see, we don't know much about Thomas. He gets a few lines in one Gospel book and that's it. But Thomas was one of the twelve and he lived the words of his confession, "My Lord and my God!".

Pray that God will allow both you and I to walk as Jesus did. Experience His power and love in your life today so that others will see the hope that lies in you. You don't have to be a famous group of the twelve...you just want to be up in there close and tight to get the really good stuff!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~