John 16

I got to read some beautiful truth this morning and I wanted to share the golden nuggets I found in John 16 today. It starts out talking about the disciples being confused at something Jesus was saying (shocker) and they were confiding in each other about their confusion. It then says:

Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this...

I had to stop right here because I already saw so much truth in this. Jesus knew his disciples. He knew their hearts and he knew their confusions. He knows their desires. One thing I've been trying to do lately is read the gospel as if Jesus is talking to me, Nicole Langkamp. Jesus knows me. He knows my desires and my needs. Most importantly, he teaches me the difference between those two things. Then Jesus starts to explain what they were confused about and says:

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

I will weep while the world rejoices? What Jesus? That's not what I signed up for. I signed up for the lying down by greener pastures. I signed up for the peace that you have promised to my heart. Doesn't that mean that bad, hard, terrible things won't happen to me? NO. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that I have found about christianity. "It will all get better soon." "If you give it your best effort, you will succeed." "If you do the right thing, nothing bad will come of it." These are the things that we say to each other all the time, myself included. But guess what, Universe? That's wrong! No matter what we do, no matter how good or how bad we are, good things will happen to us and bad things will happen to us. But here's a little secret that allows me to breathe: What happens to us in this life is never a result of the way that God feels about us. The truth is, God's love for me, Nicole, is unconditional. It exists above the circumstances, good and bad, of this world. Jesus loves me with a never stopping, never giving up, always and forever love. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I can have joy in this world. This is why my grief, will always turn to joy. Jesus reinforces this:

Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one can take away your joy. 

Joy is something that can never be taken away. Me and Keith have an inside joke where I always ask him, "Keith, are you happy right now?" and right off the bat he says, "Ye....No! I'm joyful."Although we do make each other very happy, our relationship is built on the joy that we give one another and this is something that can't waver when we get on each others nerves. This does not even compare to the joy I receive from Jesus. He continues:

A time is coming when you will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

If only I could think like this on a friday night when I'm wallowing in self pity because I don't have plans! Before Jesus, the world did not have this gift. We were separated, tarnished, broken. When you were alone, you were really alone. And this is why Jesus came. To reunite the separated, restore the tarnished, and bind up the broken. It is because of Him that I have this beautiful gift of never feeling alone. Never feeling insecure. Never unsure of who I am. Do I ever feel alone? Do I ever feel insecure? Am I ever unsure of who I am? Yes, yes, and a whopping yes. But this is because of my earthly flesh and my wandering heart. It is because of the enemy trying to steal my joy. But guess what? Jesus proclaims:

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! For I have overcome the world.

Thank you that there is a but! Thank you that you do not leave us in this state of having trouble. You have defeated the world! You are victorious! Sin and death and insecurity and loneliness and uncertainty have lost their grip on me. No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.  I will never be perfect in this world. I will never make all the "right" decisions. But guess what? Jesus does not abandon me to myself. I am given grace daily and it's really just up to me to surrender. And I know, confidently, that there is a place where I will be perfectly complete, never lacking in anything. That is where I'm going. And I'm bringing as many people as I can with me.