SCRIP-BITS

John 14:28.    Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye LOVED me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
 
Oh Friends, the day of our T.A.P. (temporary absence pass) is here! Yes, it is Friday, and the powers that be, in their worldly wisdom have begrudgingly granted us two big days off from our weekly labour. Wow! How generous they are eh! (smile) This modern day life is so busy, the pace so hectic, that two days off pass like nothing, especially when we have to straighten up our own private affairs that we couldn’t find time for during the workweek. However my people, two days off are two days off, and we’re exceedingly thankful, because many on our planet don’t even get one day off. That’s why on Fridays we shout ‘T.G.I.F! Thank God it’s Friday!’ In addition to what we have going for us in the world, we also have the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ operating inside of us, which means we have the best of both worlds, so there’s no need to be worried or overly concerned, for once we walk in obedience, the Lord will look after us. And we also have our Friday Chant to uplift us, so let’s chant it loudly, with such joy and pride that the heathen will hear us and think we’re crazy. But when they see our powerful, positive reaction, they’ll come running to us, to get some of that same action. (smile) All together now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ Yes Friends, now that we’ve put a smile on our faces and some joy in our hearts, let’s show the world how wonderful Jesus’ people truly are. And turning to our Bit, which we really did nothing with yesterday, let’s break it down. They are very meaningful words that our Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, getting them ready for when He left them. ‘Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye LOVED me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.’ Now that first sentence, about going away and coming again, is actually the third time He’s mentioned that fact to them during the course of that conversation. At the beginning of Chapter 14, He tells them: ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions (dwellings): if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.’ (John 14:1-4) But they really didn’t, for good, ole Doubting Thomas, had to ask about it. And after explaining that He was the only way to the Father, and if they’d known Him, they’d also know the Father, Phillip piped up and asked Him to show them the Father. And Jesus being the patient teacher, painstakingly explained it to them. (John 14:5-14) Then He promised to send them the Comforter, who would be His Spirit, (John 14:16-18) with the further proviso: ‘I will not leave you comfortless (orphans): I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.’ (John 14:18-20) Oh mih breddren, yuh see the glorious promises Jesus made to His disciples, and by extension, to all who believe in Him, which happily includes us. Unfortunately though, the disciples were an uneducated group, who though they hung out with Jesus for almost three years, still did not understand or fathom the depths of what He was really all about. And we shouldn’t blame or judge them, because many of us today, who are much more educated and enlightened about the scriptures, still can’t truly grasp the mighty platform that is Jesus. No wonder He chided them in the next sentence, and would most likely chide us today too. ‘If ye LOVED me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father:’ And Jesus is right, although I believe it’s more that they didn’t understand, couldn’t comprehend the weighty stuff He’d shared, rather than a lack of LOVE. And the Spirit just gave me the perfect example. It’s like all of us who have come or gone ‘a foreign’ or just left home for greener pastures, to better ourselves, improve our situations, with the promise to go back and get those we’ve left behind. And though when we’re leaving, there is some sadness, deep down in the hearts of those being left behind, a hope of a better tomorrow rises and fills them with the joy of that future expectation. That’s what Jesus was talking about and it’s exactly how we ought to feel today. Oh Friends, we should be filled with a sense of rejoicing because Jesus is building a better place for us when we depart this mortal coil. Salvation and Eternal Life are the greatest things for us believers to look forward to! So as Bruh Paul advised the Philippians, I’m saying to us all: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.’ (Phil.4:4) Yes mih people, rejoicing should be our middle name, because the Most High God Jehovah, that omnipotent Being, is our Creator, Friend, Father and Provider, who generously bestows mercy, LOVE, forgiveness, kindness and all good things upon us. So what’s there to be sad and miserable about eh? Jesus says to ‘Rejoice!’ So let’s go forth and do just that! More on this topic tomorrow, our God willing. Till then, walk safely with Him…and remember to REJOICE! Much LOVE!…when our God is great, LOVING, and kind…there’s no reason for us…to be sad, worried, and of a doubtful mind…