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John 14:15-21
“Help For Troubled Hearts”
Some of you may remember that several years ago car maker Nissan
Motors had as its motto: We are driven!
I always thought that motto pretty much describes many of
us. We are driven –
driven to acquire, driven to achieve, driven to be.
And this “driven-ness” is
taking its toll on people in terms of stress-induced problem
like ulcers, stomach disorders, headaches, high blood pressure,
insomnia, back pain, and muscle aches.
So many today suffer from the cares, difficulties and
troubles of life.
When advice columnist Ann Landers was alive, she received nearly
10,000 letters a month.
And when asked once which topics were the subject of most
of those letters, she said that most people were afraid of
something. They were
afraid of losing their health or their marriage or their job.
They were afraid, even
when there were no tangible grounds for their fears.
We
know what it’s like to have some degree of fear in our lives, do
we not? Who of us
doesn’t have at least a level of concern that we’ll suffer a
devastating illness and need extensive medical care?
And will we have adequate medical coverage to pay the
bills? Who of us
isn’t concerned that our retirement income will be insufficient
to carry us through our “golden years” or that Social Security
won’t be there for us when we retire?
And then there’s a whole host of concerns that we have as
a people and as a nation – concern over the current housing
mortgage crisis, concern that the present economy will continue
to worsen and that rising fuel and food prices will continue to
eat away our income, concern that there just might be another
terrorist attack on our own soil.
Fear. We all
experience it. In
fact, fear is one of the earliest emotions that a baby
experiences, and all fears tend to be variations of three basic
ones: the fear of falling, the fear of loud noises, and the fear
of being abandoned.
But while we may learn to deal with the fear of falling and the
fear of loud noises as we grow older, it seems we never overcome
the fear of abandonment.
It’s no fun being left alone.
Jesus understood this basic fear that his disciples were
beginning to experience at the end of his public ministry.
Jesus knew that soon he would be put to death on a cross
but that he would rise again.
He would then be ascending to be with the Father.
And they were beginning to get scared.
And so, in the second half of John 14 Jesus prepares his
distraught disciples for what is to come by assuring them that
he wouldn’t leave them orphaned.
He assured them that he wouldn’t leave them on their own
but promised to send them another Counselor, another Advocate
like himself to be with them forever, the Holy Spirit.
That’s his promise to us today as well as we face the cares,
difficulties and troubles of life.
We need not be overcome by the fear of going it alone for
we have a constant companion to guide and help and empower us
for the tasks ahead.
Not only do we experience fear in life but oftentimes that fear
is linked to guilt.
Norman Vincent Peale tells of spending some time on the island of Jamaica. In
the hotel they were staying in there was a map hanging on one of
the walls. In the
corner of the map there was some very faint lettering over an
almost totally uninhabited part of the island.
Looking closely Dr. Peale
realized that the words were, “The Land of Look-Behind.”
Intrigued, he asked the owner of the hotel what those words
meant. The hotel owner
said that in the days of slavery, runaways from the sugar
plantations sometimes escaped into that barren territory.
They were often pursued
by slave owners or by the authorities with guns and dogs.
The runaway slaves were
always on the run, always looking over their shoulders.
So that’s where the term
came from: The Land of Look-Behind.
The Land of Look-Behind,
a land where you’re always looking back over your shoulder in
fear. What a terrible
place to live in.
But a lot of people live there.
Instead of looking over our shoulder in fear or guilt at what
lies behind us, we need to look to what lies ahead.
It’s easy to get trapped in the past because of mistakes
we have made, but with Christ’s help we can look ahead to the Land of Beginning Again, for his love, his
forgiveness, and his grace are sufficient to give us a fresh
start each and every new day.
In
his Sermon on the Mount Jesus told us that we need to look at
today. “Do not be
anxious about your life,” he said.
And he went on to mention
our inner turmoil about what we will eat and what we will wear
and other such concerns. Jesus
told us that if we would seek first his Kingdom and his
righteousness, we would have everything we need.
Then he concluded by
saying, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be
anxious for itself.” (Matt. 6:34)
One of the great secrets of life and one of the most successful
ways to have an inner calm in the midst of external strife is to
simply enjoy the present moment.
Earlier in this 14th chapter of John Jesus
said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”
Then he added, “You believe in God, believe also in me.”
Faith is the key that
unlocks the door of both fear and guilt.
Faith in Christ’s promises and faith in his power.
We’re told that when the cables were built to support the weight
of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge, they were made with the
capability of bearing a load two and one-half times as great as
the maximum they would ever be called upon to bear.
I don’t know how heavy a load each of us is capable of
bearing. The Scriptures
tell us, however, that by the power of the Holy Spirit you and I
can endure any trial, overcome any temptation, bear up under any
circumstance and do so triumphantly.
We need not fear being
alone, for the Holy Spirit is truly help for our troubled
hearts.
AMEN
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