Luther on Stress

John 14:1
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

Luther wrote, "whenever we feel distressed and anxious we should believe in Christ and strengthen ourselves with his words. We should receive comfort Christ offers in this passage, it's as if he is saying to us, what are you doing? Why are you crying? Why are you so afraid? Be encouraged and take heart. All is not lost, even if the world of the flesh and the devil or your conscience plagues and terrifies you, you're not ruined. If you can't feel my presence, remember what I told you long ago, when I left these comforting words to strengthen and preserve you."

It seems to me we live in a day and age of "troubled hearts". But taking these and other words of Jesus at their face, perhaps we should present our troubled hearts to him and try to know him in a better way. We should be more confident as we go through life, paying more attention to what he says, because God knows we are certainly paying a lot of attention to what this world is saying! And those voices are not the voices that give us confidence or hope. We read stuff on the Facebook page, hear stuff on the cable news or from friends speaking words of discouragement and we want to throw in the towel! But Christians are those called to keep their eyes, ears, and hearts attuned to Jesus!. Christians are those called to stay close to him, and know he speaks to us. We hear this in this passage from John and elsewhere in the New Testament; he wants to come to us and with everything he says and does, be a comforting reminder that he has not left us to our own devices!

As Luther wrote, "we can be certain of this: a sorrowful, timid; frightened heart will never be able to come to Jesus! And we also know that Jesus does not come to trouble our hearts or make us depressed! He came and everything he did, even his ascending into heaven, was done to take away sorrow and fear. He came to replace these things with a cheerful heart, a clear conscience, and a bold commitment, which is why he left us with the Holy Spirit, for through that Spirit, his followers were strengthened and preserved after he was gone. Whoever trusts in what Christ says in this passage will be in good shape as he journeys through life - in fact just hearing these words, and half the battle is already won!"

Prayer: Dearest Jesus, open our hearts to receive you, open our ears to hear you, and then guide and direct our deeds and our days and your peace. Amen