Homesick Christian (John 14:1-6)

As the time draws closer to Jesus going to the cross, He has commanded His disciples to be servants to one another and to love one another as He has loved them. But now, in John chapter 14, Jesus begins by preparing the disciples for His going to be with the Father. Interestingly, Jesus doesn't want them to focus on Him being separated from them physically. All of us at times may have felt this, where we've been depressed, or anxious and to ourselves we say "if only Jesus was here, things would be better". In a sense this is true but this is not the hopelessness that Jesus wants His people to suffer. Instead, He tells His disciples, and today He tells us, that He is going to prepare a place in heaven and that He will come back for His people. This is a hope and a promise that He takes with Him when He goes. Today we are calling this, homesick Christians. Those who focus more on where they are going than the problems that may exist in front of them right now. Jesus has promised that believing in Him will give us peace but also, we will have trouble. And so, we look ahead to the time when Jesus does return, and our place in heaven secure, and He brings us to be with Him in that place, forevermore. When we think like this, we are encouraged and have great endurance, not hopelessness, not fretting.