Good Morning Friends,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in
God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so,
I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you
also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)
Jesus had just made a troubling prediction: He
was going to leave the disciples. He was going to a place where they could not
follow Him.
Imagine how troubling that would have been to
the early disciples. They had come to love Jesus and rely upon Him. He was their
leader. He provided direction for their lives. He had power they could not
match: to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to calm the storm. It seemed that
there was nothing He could not handle. But the disciples knew that was not true
of them. They couldn’t handle the storms that they might encounter. They
couldn’t fix the diseases that would strike. Death held fear for them. They
couldn’t face their enemies the way Jesus did. It was frightening for them to
think that Jesus was about to leave them!
Jesus knew their fear, and He responded to it
with awesome promises. They are promises to us, too!
Trust Him. That was to be true whether He was
with them or gone from them. He could be counted on to help even after He left.
After all, He would promise elsewhere that He would always be with them, even
when He wasn’t physically present.
Know that He isn’t gone forever. We’ll be
with Him someday. For the early disciples that must have been a great thought. They
had lived with Jesus. They knew what it was like to be with Him. And, someday,
we’ll know what it is like, too. We won’t always be separated from Him.
Remember that He is coming back and He’s come
back for us. The Second Coming isn’t something to be feared or dreaded. It’s
what we’re waiting for! He’ll usher us into eternity and we’ll always be with
Him in the place He’s prepared for us.
There is a great deal to trouble us in this
world. So, remember His awesome promises!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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