What do our social media profiles say about us? Whatever it says, we guide and tweak the way we are represented by editing pictures, leaving out certain details about events, and/or highlighting only the peaks, leaving out the valleys altogether. Bending and swaying to popular opinion is a hallmark of life in this day of social media scrutiny.

As an average Joe, we are labeled, good or bad, for what people know, or think they know about our lives. Celebrities suffer this more than the rest. Some, however, have learned the secret of “Shaking It Off”. Politicians have an even harder time tuning out the nay-sayers as well as not over-inflating their ego from the hype of their cheerleaders because many of their critics determine whether they will stay in their role. It takes fortitude to ignore the labels that people give you.

The apostle Thomas, one of the twelve men chosen to follow Jesus, has a 2000-year-old label assigned to him! How do we refer to him? Doubting Thomas. But the Bible never calls him that! People gave him that name. Why? Because when he was at his lowest point – devastated that the man he committed his life to, the guy who said he would usher in a new kingdom, Jesus, had just been falsely accused, condemned by political and religious leaders, and murdered in a gruesome way – no kingdom had come. Had he been fooled? Thomas was in despair.

His buddies, the other disciples, were equally as devastated. They had been told, “Jesus is risen!” by the women who visited the tomb. They DOUBTED, and two of them ran to the tomb to see for themselves. Yet no one calls them doubters. They then went and hid in a locked room! Jesus appeared to them in that room. He met them where they were – in their anguish – and said, “Peace be with you!” Thomas missed that Risen Jesus sighting, but they told him about it. Amid his grief, Tom said, unless I see him and touch Him, I don’t believe you. HONEST Thomas – ‘It is beyond my comprehension that this tortured and murdered friend of ours would be alive.’ Grief will do that. It will tell you that nothing can take away your hurt. Your pain. Your bondage to the despair. So, when people tell you something that defies common sense, you not only don’t want to believe it, you can’t. It is too painful to move.

Guess what? Jesus met Thomas where he was, too. Risen Jesus appeared again and told Thomas – touch me! And Thomas had the faith to do so. COURAGEOUS Thomas! This act of reaching out to Jesus shifted every paradigm that had previously reigned in Tom’s being.

• The dead was raised.
• Jesus is alive!
• He is, in fact, the King He said He is!
• It’s all true! Almighty God was standing right there, and Tom was now part of His eternal Kingdom!!

Do you know what Thomas did with this information? He was the first person recorded proclaiming, “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:19-29) Thomas the LEADER. Thomas the BELIEVER.

Prior to crucifixion week, other disciples urged Jesus not to go to Jerusalem because they were afraid for Jesus and themselves. Thomas was the only one who said, “Let us go also that we may die with Him” (John 11:6). LOYAL Thomas. BRAVE Thomas.

Do we want to be labeled with a word we said, or an action we carried out, in the midst of youth, naivety, angst, fear, or doubt?  Will we allow ourselves to buy into what others say about us?  Thomas was honest, courageous, loyal, and brave – a man who became a believer and a leader. If he had let the descriptor of being a “doubter” define him, he never would have spread the good news of Jesus to India where it is believed he died as a martyr.

If we are locked in a room bound by fear, anxiety, or doubt, Jesus meets us there. A touch from our Risen Savior gives us PEACE! He erases labels and sets us free. Free to move. Free to share what He did for me and can do for you.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Humans may define each other by fixating on what they remember or think they know. Who cares what they think?! Jesus, the King of the Universe, is the only one who matters. He knows our thoughts, our hearts, and our motivations and is our just judge. Care what HE thinks!

*Inspo from a sermon by Darick Fisher, Praise Assembly in Beaufort, SC.