Take Heart

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

TAKE HEART

John 16:25-33

25 "Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."  29 Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God." 31 "You believe at last!"  Jesus answered. 32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

NIV

This certainly makes it appear as if Jesus is speaking only to his disciples, and perhaps has been all along and we are just peering into a past conversation between him and them with no meaning for us at all. When would there be a time when we would be scattered, each to our own home and leave him all alone? We definitely already know that he came into this world and that he also left it and went back to the Father. We have understood him plainly for some time, even if his disciples did not. However perhaps we have been a little off in our understanding about one thing. Here again Jesus tells them that he is not saying that he will ask the Father on our behalf. This would indicate the Father is who we should be asking, in the name of Jesus. That is by using the name of Jesus we are telling the Father that we love Jesus  and so we then know that the Father loves us and he is the one who will answer our prayer. If we are praying to Jesus, or even to the Holy Spirit, we might be using the wrong language. True all of them are God, but Jesus prayed to the Father and when he taught his disciples to pray he started with Our Father. So once again it is the Father who we pray to in the name of Jesus. We might be in some sort of error even when we thank Jesus. We should be thanking our Father. But back to this scattering and leaving Jesus all alone, yet of course he is not alone for the Father is with him. We should remember that when he yells from the cross about feeling like he was forsaken by the Father. Darrel Scott once said there is a difference between the conscious presence of God and the constant presence of God. The disciples did in fact scatter because of the fear of persecution yet Jesus assured them here of two truths. First if he would never be alone, because the Father is with him, then we too will never be alone, because the Father is with us. This should bring about the second truth of having true peace even in the face of any trouble this world can bring to us. If we take heart knowing that Jesus has overcome the world, then we should never experience any anxiety, any frustration, any turmoil, any fear of any kind or any other kind of negative feelings about our situation or life itself. If we do have those thoughts than perhaps we should see them as disbelief which is sin. Jesus told us all this so we may have peace, which is the exact opposite of all those other feelings. So we need to take heart.