ACTS 16:22-34

The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake. About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, "Do no harm to yourself; we are all here." He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved." So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.

JOHN 16:5-11

Jesus said to his disciples: "Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned."

Sometimes we try desperately to cling to what is lost and then we miss the wonderful new blessings that God wants to give us.

When some people lose a dear person, they tend to stop living even though they are physically alive. The disciples felt that kind of despair when Jesus told them that he would soon leave them to join the Father. They thought only of their own loss instead of appreciating the joy that Jesus would experience by going to heaven. That’s why Jesus said: “Not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” However, Jesus was not saddened by their self-centered thinking. He felt concern for them, so he said to them: “It is much better for you that I go!” And he reminded them again of the Holy Spirit whom he would give them after he went to the Father.

God loves us so much that he never abandons us. He comes to us in the flesh through the love that others give us but when He takes them away, He does not abandon us.

No ending is a dead end. God always provides a new path, a new friend, a new ministry, a new adventure. To discover the new we have to take our eyes off the old, but this does not mean that we forget the old. While we treasure the past, we are to face the future and hold on tight to God’s hand. To hold His hand, we have to let go of whatever else we have been clinging to.

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Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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