Christ the Encourager
As I sat in the room with my oldest son, waiting for the results of the test the doctor had just run, my mind was racing. I looked at him, sitting on the bed covered in wires attached to some complex looking medical device. What was wrong with him? How serious is this? Just then the doctor walked in.
“Don’t worry. Everything is going to be ok.”
Those common words of comfort are repeated countless times each day by the hard-working men and women that serve in the hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across our country. Simple words that carry a great hope, especially now in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. Things don’t seem ok, and medical professionals feel that reality more than anyone. Still they risk their own health for the sake of others and offer words of reassurance and comfort. These words of encouragement are even more meaningful because of their own sacrifice.
“Don’t let your heart be troubled.”
These words of encouragement were spoken in a similar time of crisis. In John 14, Jesus is speaking to His close friends just hours before He would endure some of the most terrible suffering anyone has ever experienced. He was also acutely aware of His dire situation, but in that moment, with the weight of the world hanging over Him, he was busy encouraging others. Jesus saw the worry and fear in the faces around Him at the Passover table that night as He explained what must happen so that God’s rescue plan for humanity could be realized. Instead of focusing on His own upcoming anguish, His heart was focused on the needs of those around Him.
In times like these, we need to follow in His footsteps. It can be very easy to succumb to anxiety and fear about the uncertainty of the world around us, but when we allow the Holy Spirit—the great Comforter—to calm our minds, we can then be used to encourage those around us as well. Even when the situation is dire, we have hope. Christ has defeated death and gone on to prepare a place for us in His eternal kingdom. We are the messengers that now carry that hope to a world that so desperately needs it.
John 14:1-3
Dan Rice - Elder
Additional Resources:
God Only Knows - for KING & COUNTRY
When Peace Like A River
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