“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. ~John 14:1 (NLT2)~
14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled." NKJV In the Greek, the pronoun your
is plural; therefore, Jesus was speaking to Peter (whose denial of Jesus had
just been predicted—see 13:38) and to all the other disciples.
According to Luke, Jesus had told Peter, "Satan has demanded to sift all
of you like wheat . . ." (Luke 22:31 nrsv).
All of the disciples must have been troubled about Jesus' predictions of
betrayal, denial, and departure. After all, if Peter's commitment was shaky,
then every disciple should be aware of his own weaknesses.
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LIFE APPLICATION: STRONG WEAK PEOPLE
Jesus did not want his followers to
imitate Peter's impulsive self-confidence. Potential weaknesses and possible
failures trouble us. So we don't like to think about them. Peter denied his own
frailty and claimed more faith than he had. Jesus' solution for troubled hearts
requires us to trust in him. Trust does not mean pretending we are strong; it
means recognizing our weakness and need for God's help. If we believe for a
moment that we can follow Jesus in our own strength, we will fail as miserably
as Peter.
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"Trust in God; trust also in
me."NIV Jesus urged his disciples to maintain
their trust in the Father and in the Son, to continue trusting through the next
few very difficult days. Jesus later told the disciples why he gave them
glimpses of the future that would soon follow: "I have told you now before
it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe" (14:29 niv).
They would not need to be afraid because all that he promised would come true.
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Bruce B. Barton et al., Life
Application Bible Commentary – John, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1993), WORDsearch
CROSS e-book, 285-286.
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