"Encouragement For The Week"

"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." - Matthew 24: 6-8

I heard an old song on the radio the other day that caught my ear and brought these verses to mind. It goes something like: ‘Mama said there’ll be days like this, there’ll be days like this, my Mama said’… the singer goes on to express her comfort in those words during the difficult times later in her life as she thought back on what ‘Mama’ had told her when she was young.

As we look at our world today, it’s obvious to see that Jesus said there’ll be days like this. How amazing that Jesus took the time 2,000 years ago to speak of things that will happen now. Many times we see in the Bible where God speaks of things before they happen to show Himself as the God who abides outside of time, but the undertone of Jesus here and in other scriptures like it are of encouragement and comfort… to see that we are not troubled. It’s hard to not be troubled by the possible effects that the corona-virus may or will have on the world and how that could impact us individually. As our minds may wonder into some dark places, Jesus would say "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

As ‘Mama’ wisely taught her daughter in the song, followers of Jesus cannot expect to go through life without difficulty. And when it does come, because it will, we can fall back on what we know because of Who we know.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…" - 1 John 4:18

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:28

In Christ,
Dave Elliott
(Church Elder)