Wednesday, November 24, 2021
“I
have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop
speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father. Then
you will ask in my name. I’m not saying
I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you
dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God. Yes,
I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and
return to the Father.” Then
his disciples said, “At last you are speaking plainly and not figuratively. Now
we understand that you know everything, and there’s no need to question you. From this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus asked, “Do you finally
believe? But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when
you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with
me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace
in me. Here on earth you will have many
trials and sorrows. But take heart,
because I have overcome the world.” John
16:25-33
When you’re unarmed, exposed to the road ahead where dangers and
hardship abound, it’s hard to have peace of mind. That road is especially daunting, even
frightening, if you’ve never travelled that way before. With the shadow of the cross of Golgotha
growing ever closer, Jesus used precious time to prepare His followers for the
difficulty of the road they would eventually travel without him. That road was a combination of trials
and sorrows which would not break the peace He was going to give them.
A few months ago, I sat in my primary care doctor’s office describing
the fatigue I felt. Each step of the day
was like extracting my feet from a muddy bog…I was dragging my way through
life. His response was to rule-out
the obvious suspects. My doc
sent me for a stress test to find out the load my heart carried.
A few days later I was laying on a hospital table (not the most
comfortable bed, mind you). I was prepped
to have my ticker challenged with a walk on the treadmill to nowhere. As the test was about to begin, the heart
doctor stormed back into the room and stopped the show. She told me this was the wrong test…my heart
wouldn’t stand for it. As I stood at the
checkout desk to schedule the next test, I had a flashback to my days in the
U.S. Army…my life was beginning to take-on the flavor every grunt private knows,
hurry-up and wait!
The next test was followed by several weeks of that “hurry-waiting”
until the next appointment to review the results. My new heart doctor said two words that
rocked my sense of peace, heart failure. She described a weakened, enlarged blood-pump
that was under-performing in passing along that substance which contains life.[1]
Since that time I’ve acquired two new doctors. It seems this stage of life (in the eighth-decade)
collects doctors like my arteries collect platelets and plaque. I’ve learned much about the stages (progression),
and symptoms of heart failure, by listening and reading. It’s a strange road, and, at least in my
case, knowledge is not exactly power. It
is somewhat unsettling.
I’ve been able to identify two positive results in this short (5 month)
road trip:
1.
A sense of the
peace Jesus promised in difficult journeys is always there
2.
A new
appreciation for all the stages of life…from the physically-stronger times when
you’re concerned with being relevant and useful…to the (now current) stage,
when just brushing your teeth and showering are major accomplishments.
Both peace and struggle are real and palpable ingredients in the stuff
of a believer’s life that Jesus gives us.
For You Today
What peace are you willing to surrender to the ferocious
struggle you face? Or is it settled in
you that His peace will never bow to any struggle’s growl? Jesus said that is possible, because He’s overcome
the world!
[1] Title and Other Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For another post on this text
see Blood White or Peace in the Pandemic
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