Rejoice in His Presence

Scripture: John 20: 19-20

“Then, the same day at the evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assemble, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them , “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.“

Reactions: Today I was rather restless for some reason, and spent a good deal of time reading through the Gospels looking for a passage that spoke to me. If I’m honest with myself, I’ll admit that I was looking for something that would make a good topic for this blog. Some of the passages I read spoke of serving, so that the first will be last, and I felt that this was a reminder to be more humble and less interested making a good impression on others, even if it’s through an anonymous blog. But as I read the various passages, I still didn’t feel at peace, so in the end I looked through my topic index and found a reading under ‘Peace’. This was exactly the scripture I needed, and I reaped some blessed rewards in my meditation:

1) Jesus is Peace. Just thinking about Him, reading His word, picturing Him appear to His disciples brought a great feeling of calm and contentment to me. I felt all anxiety related to my blog and my lengthy, self-imposed ‘To Do’ list just melt away.

2) Just as the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, I too rejoiced in His presence. I felt He was standing before me, offering me the gifts of His peace and His companionship. This prompted me to offer my own prayers of thanksgiving and praise to Him.

3) In the past few weeks I have imagined going to the room where Jesus was staying when he told me to ‘Come and See’ (John 1: 35-38). Today he entered my home, arriving in the middle of a heavy rainstorm, telling me that He would always come forth there when I need Him.

4) Again I perceived the message that my most important mission at this time is simply to spend time with the Lord. While my other acts of service and discipleship may be pleasing to God, they are secondary to enhancing my own personal relationship with Christ.