"We judge Thomas for his doubts. 

Almost no one remembers he was the first one willing to die.

We’ve branded him with a nickname "Doubting Thomas", reducing his entire life to a single bad weekend. 

We treat him like the weak link in the chain, 

a skeptic who didn’t love Jesus enough to just believe.

You need to read John 11 again.

The context here is terrifying. Lazarus is dead, and Jesus announces He is heading back to Judea to wake him up. 

The disciples aren't just hesitant; 

they are shaking in their sandals. 

They remind Jesus that the religious leaders in Judea barely missed stoning Him to death a few days prior. 

Going back wasn't a mission trip. 

It was a suicide mission.

Naturally, the room hesitates. They value their lives. 

But while everyone else is looking for the exit, 

Thomas stands up. 

He looks around at his terrified friends and drops the bravest line in the Gospels:

"Let us also go, that we may die with Him."

That is not the voice of a coward. 

That is the only man in the room with the guts to walk into the fire because he couldn't bear the thought of Jesus walking into it alone. 

He was ready to take a rock to the skull just to stay close to his Rabbi.

So, when he struggled with the resurrection later? 

It wasn't because he didn't care. 

It was because he cared  "too much."

His heart wasn't just skeptical; it was crushed. 

He had resigned himself to die for Jesus, 

but instead, he had to watch Jesus die without him. 

His "doubt" was trauma, not intellectual pride. 

He was afraid to get his hopes up again.

Notice that Jesus didn’t scold him. He didn’t lecture him. 

He just showed him the scars. 

See Thomas holding those hands, shedding tears of love.

We are so quick to define people by their lowest moments. 

We judge an entire biography by one hard chapter. 

Thomas had a moment of doubt, sure, but he backed it up with a lifetime of loyalty. 

Tradition tells us he traveled further than any other apostle, taking the Gospel all the way to India, where he was eventually speared to death.

He died exactly the way he lived: Committed to the end.

Are you judging someone right now because their faith looks messy? Are you writing them off because they’re asking the angry, hard questions?

Be careful. They might not be enemies of the faith. 

They might just be heartbroken believers who need to see the scars before they can risk trusting again."

Ellis Enobun Ref: John 11:16 and John 20:24-31