John 14:1-14
Be Still: Holy Spirit, I breathe you in today. Fill my life with your presence. I want to be more like Jesus. Amen
Read: John 14:1-14
'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.' (v2-3)
Encounter: When I was 8, I remember going on the school bus for the first time. It was fine on the way out, but on the way home I’d get anxious each day about making sure I got off at the right stop and about where the bus was heading. Was I on the right bus for my home? At that young age the fear of ending up far from home at the wrong destination is magnified and becomes a scary prospect!
Here Jesus talks wonderfully of the Father’s House - by which he means our Heavenly Father’s eternal ‘home’ for us - ‘heaven’! It is a prepared place, not random and neglected. But prepared for us. It is also a personal place. Jesus says that he goes ahead of us and is working in advance for our arrival. He is the One we will meet when we arrive.
What incredible truth. What a beautiful image. Many of us are anxious travellers - anxious in our daily life, about what we’re doing, where we’re heading, what we’re supposed to be like. One thing we know and can rely on. One thing is a tremendous source of healing peace for us – Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! If we believe in him, he is taking us to the Father’s House. There’s no doubt where Jesus’ ‘bus’ is going, no doubt it’s eternally safe, no doubt of the warmth of the Father’s welcome. We arrive only by the blood of Jesus, not by anything we have done. Jesus alone saves us for all eternity.
Apply: Do you reflect on the Father’s House? The eternal ‘home’ prepared by Jesus for each of his followers. Draw encouragement and peace from this truth. Reflect on that longer range, eternal perspective and see what difference it makes to your day to day.
Devote: Father, thank you that you sent your Son so I can be welcomed into your house in his name, by his death and resurrection. Fill me with fresh passion and urgency to tell others this amazing truth.