1. Faith Leads to Peace
Just prior to this passage,
Jesus reveals to His disciples that He would soon be leaving them. He would be
going away and they were not able to follow Him, at least not yet. This must
have filled these men with great confusion and sadness. They had put their hope
in this man. They were incredibly blessed by this man. They had given up everything
to follow this man. And now He was taking off!
Have you
ever been abandoned by someone you cared deeply for? A husband or wife? A
mother or father? A boyfriend or girlfriend? A best friend? At such times the
pain is unbearable. Nothing else in the world matters.
Jesus tells
His followers not to be troubled. Even though He was leaving them there was
reason for hope. It was possible to feel peace. They were not going to be apart
from Jesus forever.
Rather than
being troubled, the disciples are told to believe: “Believe in God; believe
also in me.” If these men believed in Jesus, they would not feel troubled. Why?
Because faith leads to peace.
It does so
for two reasons. First of all, faith is embracing the promises of
Christ with confidence. In this passage, Jesus reveals that His followers would
be with Him in the future. Jesus was not abandoning them. He would return for
His beloved. Trusting in this knowledge would bring peace to their hearts. Secondly,
faith brings peace because it is through faith that God saves. And one of the
blessings believers ought to experience is peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment