Week 36: Trust
Today’s Text: John 13-15
Key Text: John 14:1
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
In the thirteenth through the fifteenth chapters of John there is so much it is difficult to pick just one or two Scripture verses to discuss in this blog.
Think of how much is in today’s selected text:
- The washing of the Apostle’s feet by Jesus and what it represents
- Jesus’ speaking of how He is “the way and the truth and the life” and all that means
- His promise that the Counselor will come – the Holy Spirit – who will guide and comfort
- His reminder of how He is the “vine” and we are the “branches” and how that calls us to both intimate relationship and service in His name
- The sad reminder that the world will surely hate us as it hated Him – yet the promise that we should not be afraid or discouraged because He has called us “out of the world”
Thousands of sermons could be, and have been preached on this and more from just the three chapters we have before us today.
And yet, one verse – and one alone – stands out for me today.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
When we can firmly hold on to that – we have it all.
There is nothing that the seen or unseen world can throw at us which cannot be faced with courage when we take these fourteen words to heart.
It is so easy to have a “troubled” heart.
Jesus, however, tells us to come at life untroubled and unafraid. Why?
Because He faces it with us.
Enough said?
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By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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IGW3 - In God's Word, In God's Will, In God's Work 