Are you afraid of the future? Do the predictions of the end of the world make you squirm? Have you lost your way? Don’t worry, finding the safe way to the future is easier than you think.

“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. You know the way to the place I’m going.”
Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.” (John 14: 1-7, CEB, empasis added)

God did not send us a formula to be figured out and then performed. God gave us Jesus who IS the way home. Without him there is no going, no knowing, no living, like Thomas à Kempis points out:

Follow me: I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Without the way there is no going;
Without the truth there is no knowing;
Without the life there is no living.

But when we are living with Jesus, we have all that through grace!

The way is guidance,
the truth is wisdom,
and the life is our hope.

When we have Jesus we have everything we need for the future: guidance, wisdom, and hope. And suddenly we are equipped to face the future no matter what it brings. And, yet, this is not all God gives us.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
“I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14: 15-21, CEB)

As you know Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for us. He will come back to take us with him but meanwhile we have the Holy Spirit sustaining us. Hence we are never alone. We might feel lonely or lost but God is only a whisper away.

If your life is chaotic right now, if all the festivities have left you frazzled, don’t worry. God is waiting for you to give you his peace. Take a pause. Pour out all that troubles you. Breath in God’s peace. All is well.

We are ready for the future by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

When we are in Jesus, it does not matter when the end of the world comes.
Jesus is our safety.
When we are in Jesus, all the guidance, wisdom, and hope we need is available for us.
Jesus is everything we need.
When we are in Jesus, we know the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus is the safe way to the future.

 

Gracious God,
Thank you for Jesus!
Thank you for the way back to you!
Give us all the guidance,
wisdom, and hope we need
to boldly face the future!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Are you ready for the future?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you boldly start the New Year in Jesus’ name!

 

Image courtesy of Chris Kennedy. Linking up today with Brag on God Friday.