Peace for Those with an Irritable Itch

12/17- Peace for Those with An Irritable Itch- Jn. 14

1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ^a ; believe also in me. 2My 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? 3And 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. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”
25“All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Thoughts: Jesus gives us, in this chapter both a hope of things to come and a hope in the present.  Both hopes enable Him to say to our souls: “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.” 
    The hope to come is that Jesus is going ahead of us to make a room ready for us.  I like the translation of the King James Version- “In my Father’s house are many mansions …and I go there to prepare a place for you.”  The rooms are spacious- enough- a home.  We will have a place after we die for our eternal souls and it is not simply in this life.  He has to die to get there.  We all do.  But death no longer has the same sting.  It is not a fading into meaninglessness.  Some today simply cope with death by just coming to terms with the finality of it, or the hope that we will somehow influence others- through our teaching, example, and even DNA.  But while that is important, in the face of our eternal soul, it is even more important to follow Jesus into heaven- into the place He has prepared for us. 
    The second hope He gives us is peace in the here and now.  This is not the only peace, but it is a part of it.  God sends Himself, the Holy Spirit to help us.  The Spirit is called “the advocate, the comforter, the counselor- the “parakletos.”  Paraklete comes from “para” (along side- like parallel) and kletos (meaning help).  He is the One who comes alongside us to help.  He teaches us, reminds us of His Word (we have to read it first so He can remind us later), and He gives us peace.  For both reasons we do not need to be troubled, and we do not need to be afraid. 
     If you have ever had an allergic itch- like to poison ivy, you know how scratching it gives a millisecond of relief, but actually inflames the problem making it grow.  But if you get the right potion, it sooths the itch and shrinks it.  We are born with an itch- we are born with a desire for God and a desire for eternity in our hearts (Eccles. 3:11).  Jesus comes and offers us peace to come, and peace in the here and now. 

Prayer: Lord, give me hope.  Hope beyond this life, and hope in the here and now.  May this hope that came at Christmas, make me alive to you. 

Song: #132- Good Christian friends rejoice, with heart and soul and voice; now ye hear of endless bliss: Jesus Christ is born for this!  He has opened heaven’s door and we are blest forevermore!  Christ was born for this!  Christ was born for this!