Reflections on God's travel guide to my journey back home.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

untroubled hearts

Over coffee the other day, a friend confided that he can’t get rid of a hanging cloud of uneasiness. It started early in the Kavanaugh nomination battle and has been in the back of his mind ever since, a sense that we’re in a bad place with no immediate prospects for things to get better. I don’t think he’s the only one who feels that way.

There’s a treatment for that feeling, the same thing that gives us hope in any situation: our faith. Jesus.

Look at this, from John 14:1-7: “‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 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. You know the way to the place where I am going.’
“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’”

Don’t have a troubled heart, Jesus says. Why? Because you believe in him. Because he has a plan that includes heaven. Because this thing that’s getting you down is only temporary, especially compared to eternity. 

But here’s the thing: there isn’t another hope. If you’re not leaning on Jesus, then your heart should be troubled. There’s only one way to God, only one way to heaven, only one source of salvation: Jesus. You can’t say that everyone can decide how they approach God; Jesus is the only way. All roads don’t lead to heaven, or even many. There is one narrow way. Salvation can’t be found or bought or earned, it only comes by faith in Jesus.

With that faith, you’ll never have a reason for a troubled heart. Without it, trouble is all you should expect.

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