Mary Alice McGinnis
Jun 83 min
by Mary Alice McGinnis
A dear friend of mine has a brother who recently purchased a home overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
When he first saw the home listed for sale, he made the decision to fly all the way from his primary home thousands of miles away, without his wife. As he walked through the home prior to purchasing it, he immediately fell in love with it. He and his wife decided to purchase this home. After the closing and the sale were complete, he was not able to get back to his new place for several weeks.
My friend and her husband live only a short distance from her brother’s new place. So, they spent many days there doing a lot of preparation work for her brother’s arrival. They cleaned inside and outside. They did a complete inventory of what the previous owner had left behind and purchased a few necessities they thought would be needed. When her brother arrived, he too made additional preparations for when his wife would arrive and see their new place for the very first time.
Can you imagine how the wife must have felt, waiting to see this new home for the first time? Can you feel what it must have been like to wonder if it would really feel like home, if costly repairs would be needed, if everything she would need would be there, and if she could be happy living there? Yet, during the whole process, she told her husband, “I trust you.”
In John 13, Jesus had just spent time with his disciples in the upper room. He had washed the disciples’ feet. He predicted Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. He told them:
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer.” And “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
On the doorstep of this disturbing news, Jesus tells them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”
But they had good reason to be troubled, didn’t they? Their Master, Teacher, the one they were counting on to be the Messiah, was saying He would be betrayed, would suffer and He would be leaving them.
Jesus comforts them with these words:
“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that 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.”
What is troubling you right now? Are there circumstances that seem to be spiraling out of control? Does it feel devastating and perhaps even that God has abandon you?
Hear the words of Jesus today. He never promised us a life without troubles. But He did promise that there is a way to have an untroubled heart amid a troubled life.
The way through the troubles? Trusting Jesus has gone before us. He made the way possible at the high cost of shedding His blood for us on the cross, as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is what He did to prepare the PERFECT home for us. He has ensured that all our needs will be met, because now we are the adopted children of the King of Kings and Lord or Lords. He, and no one else, paid the necessary price to make this dwelling place secure for us. When we trust in Him, we will experience ecstatic, eternal JOY in God’s presence in His house for eternity. This life will only be a distant memory. Do not let your hearts be troubled. He has prepared a place for YOU and YOU CAN TRUST HIM!
Jesus, it is so easy for my heart to become troubled. Help me to ground my security, not in the things of this world, but in YOU. You have a place prepared for me and You will take me there. In all the joys of Your heavenly mansions, all the things of this life will become a distant memory. Thank you, Jesus, for going the way of the cross for me to make this promise secure.