Don't Be Troubled

Don't be Troubled

John 14:1-6

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” 6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

I had been going through a period of loneliness. Last May my wife went down to Florida to support our oldest son. My Daughter-in-Law was in the ICU down there and was close to death and my wife decided she needed to go and I agreed with her. I would have gone too if I could have. Thankfully, she is pulled through and she is out of immediate danger, but she still will be recovery for some more months, and will require some follow-up surgery to correct a congenital problem. Thank you for you continued prayers for healing.

Now I at first thought that my wife going was to be no problem for me.  I am self-sufficient. I don't need any other  person to make me happy and certainly, the fact that my wife and I will be celebrating 38 years of marriage this month, seemed to me to under-gird that fact. To be sure, we have spent time away from each other during the years for various reasons...but never for more than a week. Seriously, how bad could it be? I was wrong. I was correct that the first week was not too bad, but the longer it went on, the worse it got.  I found strength in what Jesus told His disciples before He was to leave them.

1) Do not allow your heart to be troubled. Believe in God and in Me.

When we are facing loss of anything, we cannot dwell on ourselves. We must look at the bigger picture and it is not about us. It's about God and His plans not only for us but for the world.  When we focus too much on ourselves, we lose perspective and we focus on the mundane and the trivial. Force yourself to look to God and to what His Son, Jesus has done for us. What comfort that is! What great joy! Now you know that there is someone who never has forgotten you and is doing everything for your good. Dwell on that and have peace.

2) I am going, but do not be discouraged. I am going to make a place for you and you will one day be with me.

Jesus knew His disciples would be lonely, discouraged and even depressed when He was gone. He sought to give them a vision of the future in telling them and us all, that He is going, but He is not going for no reason...He is going for their sake. He is going to prepare things for them when they come.  He later told them not to worry; that even though He was going He was going to come back for them.  This gave them a new perspective of the event and comforted them with the truth that Jesus was not abandoning them alone.  In fact He told them that if He went, it would be better for them because the Father would send them a Helper who would guide them in all things.  We look back on this and realize that the Holy Spirit is perhaps our greatest asset in our relationship with Jesus while we live on this earth.  I would not trade that for anything in the world. Would you?

And finally 3) He tells them the truth about His relationship with the world.

Many people mock God. Many people mock Jesus.  In the end, as the scriptures say, God is not mocked.  This one fact, that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, cannot be over looked.  It is one fact that over-rides all opinions and people who would point and say that there are multiple ways to get to heaven.  It goes beyond the people and opinions who say that we are all worshiping the same god. The fact is if we take this as truth, and I say we MUST, then there is no other way to get to where Jesus is except to believe on Him and the One who sent Him.

Are you lonely today? Is your life void of meaning? Do you feel as if you cannot go on because the world seems so much against you and your so called friends are not there when you need them the most? Then rejoice! Because you have found the only thing that will fill that gap. You have found the only thing that will bring you comfort is a world that is comfortless. You have found Jesus. Just like the Disciples who thought they were losing the only thing they had ever believed in, they came to realize that Jesus was there for them. He was the reason to live. He was the reason to keep on doing what He told them to do. When their time on earth was done, He would be the one who would come back personally and show them the room He had prepared for them.

Friends, I do not know about you, but these words of Jesus fill me with joy. How can I be lonely when my Lord died on the cross to bring me life? How can I be lonely when once He died, the Father sent His Holy Spirit to live with me, in me and through me?  How indeed!

Make this New Year the best ever with Jesus!

Blessings all!