1“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also. 4You know where I go, and you know the way.”
5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.”
8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. 13Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it. 15If you love me, keep my commandments. 16I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
25“I have said these things to you while still living with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. 27Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 28You heard how I told you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I. 29Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe. 30I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. 31But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.
Let Not Your Heart be Troubled
27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
This chapter of Scripture begins with Jesus telling us, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Near the end, He tells us precisely the same thing: “Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.” Why all this talk about troubled hearts? The human heart is an odd thing. We can be going along peacefully, minding our own business, and then a strange thought or impression can come over us, reducing us to fear. If we’re not worried about something that might happen, we begin worrying about something that might not happen the way we want it to happen. Many of us are what is called a “worry wart.” Jesus tells us these things because, as humans, we have a built-in propensity to worry.
Years ago, my wife and I used to watch a television preacher as we dressed to go to church. I specifically remember hearing him say that worry has no place in the heart of a believer. Most of what we worry about happening never really happens. He said, “If you can change your circumstances, then work to do so. But if you cannot, then stop worrying about it and leave it to God to work out.” This was great advice. In college, I used to worry about an upcoming test. I learned that the best way not to worry about it was to get down at my desk and master the material. When I first began speaking to groups, I would worry about not choosing the right subject or not having the right thing to say about it. I learned that preparing a good teaching is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Whatever you’re doing, stop worrying and give your task your best effort, and leave the rest up to God. I told my kids, “Work as it all depends on you, all the while knowing it really all depends on God.” He blesses our efforts.
I recently bought e-bikes for my bride and me. There are many different kinds of these bikes, but most do absolutely nothing on their own. You must exert some pressure on the pedals for the electric motor to engage and provide assistance. The Holy Spirit similarly empowers our lives. Think things through and choose the course that you desire to take. Make absolutely sure that it’s the direction in which God desires for you to travel. You might have to spend a good deal of time in prayer and reading God’s word to set out in the right direction. But, once you’ve decided on a course, START PEDALING. As you make your efforts, the power and wind of the Holy Spirit will come along behind you and give you the extra boost you need to get up those hills and navigate your way through rocky roads you can’t do on your own. If you do this, you will find your heart is less troubled. Reader, Jesus will give you a peace unlike the peace the world offers. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” That’s excellent advice. Now take it!