By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Believe in Me

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link

“Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.”
John 14:1 English Standard Version

As we got onto the massive service elevator, the giant, grey doors closed ominously.  One of the crew said, “It feels like we are in a prison!”  Fortunately we were not, but is that “closing of the doors” feeling a little like how you feel about the closing of this year?  An ominous, trapped sort of feeling, a set of memories that haunt you and that you wish would go away?  Has this past year been gray and foreboding with grief and sorrow and dashed hopes and feelings of loss and pain?

Jesus sensed that same feeling with His disciples as He spoke to them just before His arrest and crucifixion.  They would very soon feel the closing of the doors of Jesus earthly ministry, the closing of the tomb upon His dead body.  They would experience grief and sorrow and uncertainty and pain.  And He says to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in me.”  He pointed them away from their troubled hearts and pointed them instead at His Father and Himself.  “Believe in Me,”  He says.

I just spoke with a man who has lost his wife of many years.  All of his life is filled with pain and sorrow.  He told me, “I can’t feel God’s presence with me, my sorrow is too great.”  Jesus speaks to our hearts in those moments when all that we feel is pain and sorrow.  “Believe in Me.”  Or as it says in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.”

As the doors close on this year, trust not on your feelings but trust in God.  Trust in Jesus, who died to save you and whose promises are always true.  Jesus says, “Believe in Me.”  And let not your hearts be troubled, believe in Jesus.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado