Your faith isn't secondhand
Good morning.
Can I ask you something honest?
Have you ever read about the disciples seeing the risen Jesus - Thomas touching the wounds, Peter running to the tomb - and felt, somewhere quietly at the back of your mind... but I wasn’t there?
Like your faith is real, but not quite as real as theirs was? Like you’re living off a story that belongs to someone else?
I’ve felt it too. And I think it’s more common than we admit.
This week we finished our Holy Week series, and on the last morning I spent time in John 20 and 1 Peter 1. And what struck me - what I couldn’t get away from - is this: the people who were there aren’t held up as the gold standard. Not by Jesus. Not by Peter.
Jesus looks at Thomas and says, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
That word blessed isn’t a consolation prize. It’s a direct, intentional blessing - spoken over every generation of believers who came after that first Easter morning. Over the early church. Over your grandparents. Over you, this morning, wherever you are.
And Peter - who was in that room, who had sat around fires with Jesus, who had watched him feed crowds - writes to people who hadn’t, and he’s almost in awe of them. He says they love Jesus, trust him, and rejoice with glorious, inexpressible joy.
Not pity. Wonder.
Your faith isn’t borrowed. It isn’t secondhand. It is genuinely, personally yours.
The five-minute devotional is on YouTube now if you’d like to watch it. Three small truths, a simple prayer, and one tiny holy step to carry into your day.
Watch it here → Rob Westwood-Payne: 5-Min Daily Devotionals -
Take care of yourself today, Rob
Read this week’s devotionals here - https://open.substack.com/pub/battledrilldevotional/p/when-doubt-feels-like-the-wrong-answer?r=643q6o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true