John 14:1-4
“Don’t let this throw you. You trust
God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s
home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to
get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready,
I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already
know the road I’m taking.”
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
There have been a lot of
posts recently from parents who helped their college-aged students move
into a new space…cute room décor…bittersweet “good-byes”…excited kids
greeting old friends and making new ones. It is a daunting experience
to send your child away to college and trust that he/she will be healthy
and happy…make good choices…study hard and have a good time – all
without the “guidance and nurture” of his/her parental figures and the
comforts of home!
When my then-98-year-old grandmother made the
difficult decision to move to an Assisted Living Facility, she trusted
Greg and me to handle the details. And we did our best to ensure that
she would be happy and given the best care. We furnished her apartment
with HER things - down to the last plant and knick-knack. We made it
look as much like “home” as we possibly could.
I will never
forget how hard it was to pull out of her driveway and deliver her to
this new apartment…knowing that she would never live with total
independence again. But I also realized that we had done everything we
knew to do – and then some – to get her room ready. And while she
rarely told us that all was well, I heard from many others that she
often said, “This was the best decision I ever made.”
My
grandmother was no dummy. She knew that this apartment would be her
final earthly residence. But she also knew that Jesus was preparing a
far nicer place for her in heaven…the likes of which she had never seen
before. She had to endure her share of challenges on this earth. I
guess you could say she “lived in a dump or two.” But she never let
this squelch her hope and faith that better days were ahead…that her
room in THE Mansion was in the works! A friend joked that Jesus took His
time repainting my grandmother’s space to get the color just right –
she lived for 100 years 123 days. But I know that the end result is
perfect – and so worth the wait!
A lot of us spend a good deal of
time and energy on worry about things that really don’t matter. We
spin our wheels as we stay stuck in the ruts of worry, frustration,
anger, disappointment, and fear. We SAY we trust Jesus…but we don’t
live in a way that demonstrates this. We sometimes live in a few “dumps”
as “life” happens to us. We let the devil steal our joy…and what we
present to others is an example of someone who SAYS they trust Jesus and
want to serve Him, then lives like there isn’t an ounce of hope and
faith in Christ’s teachings and promises.
John 14:1-4 should
frame every single aspect of our daily living. The hope and promise
that is offered in these brief sentences should be the fuel that drives
us each minute of the day. Our room is being prepared…and it will be the
best room we could ever imagine, in the mansion of the KING of KINGS!
Jesus is busy getting the paint colors and everything else exactly
right! And in the meantime, the One who is creating this Masterful
abode for us gives equal time and attention to the details of our
everyday existence.
So what have we to fear? How can we
worry? Why would we waste a minute being angry or disappointed? The
best is yet to come…we know what lies ahead, and it will be glorious!
The time has come to live with the excitement and enthusiasm of a
college freshman off to inhabit his/her first dorm room…or the graduate
decorating a new apartment. We know that what Jesus has in store for us
is superior to any of these earthly dwellings…so why aren’t we living
with anticipation and gratitude?
Are you ready to demonstrate to
the world how much you trust Jesus? Do you honor the work and
preparation that He is doing for you by living every minute of this
earthly existence to the fullest – and with glory and gratitude for the
Designer of it all? Do you live with hope and joy in your salvation
through Jesus Christ…and does it show? Isn’t it time you did?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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