Preparing a Place
“In my Father’s house are many rooms…I go to prepare a place for you.” Those were Jesus’ words to those friends in that upper room that night. “There’s room for you.” Is there a truth with as much peace for us as knowing there is room for us with God? No room for Jesus in the world, but plenty of room for us with Him. Enough room for everyone…if we accept and believe.
In the loneliness of this world, our hope is built on that wonderful promise to us that God has room for us…but that place had to be prepared.
Do you think the disciples had any idea of what Jesus meant when He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He had talked of dying, but it seemed the disciples either did not want to hear those words or they simply could not comprehend that Jesus could ever die. After all, they had witness what He could do…the miracles…the power. Surely, they reasoned no one could take Jesus’ life from them. And in that sense, they were right. What they could not see was that Jesus willingly gave His life up. It had to happen…for me and for you.
Without the cross, there would be no room. Sin has separated each of us from God and nothing we do can change that. Nothing we can do…but something Jesus could do. And something Jesus did. “I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus went to the cross. He sacrificed His life on earth. He endured suffering and hardship beyond belief. And He did it to prepare a place for me…a place I could dwell in the Father’s house forever…a place where Christ and I can be together. “That where I am, you may be also.”
Today, I sit at this computer with the sun shining outside and a warm heater by my feet. It will be another day of blessings and opportunities to feel the love of others and share that love with a starving world. It is a day that has been prepared for…a room has been purchased in God’s house. It was purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ. And the payment is good for eternity. Nothing I have done has earned that room. It was Jesus that prepared it for me. It was His sacrifice.
The challenge for me is to respond to what He has done. That will make this day special. The will make this day worth living. There is room in the Father’s house. Jesus has prepared it for each of us. Thanks be to God in Christ for the peace that comes from knowing Him.
Billy