King of Troubled Hearts

John chapter 13, starting at verse 31 of John chapter 13.

John 13 · chapter mention John 13 · chapter mention

When he had gone out, Jesus said,

Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you,

Where I am going, you cannot come.

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

By this, all people will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.

Simon Peter said to him,

Lord, where are you going?

Jesus answered him,

Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.

Peter said to him,

Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.

Jesus answered,

Will you lay down your own life for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you,

The rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God.

Believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and will take you to myself,

that where I am, you may be also.

And you know the way to where I am going.

Thomas said to him,

Lord, we do not know where you are going.

How can we know the way?

Jesus said to him,

I am the way,

and the truth,

and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you had known me,

you would have known my Father also.

From now on you do know him,

and have seen him.

Philip said to him,

Lord,

Lord,

show us the Father,

and it is enough for us.

Jesus said to him,

have I been with you so long,

and you still do not know me, Philip?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say,

show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father,

and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you,

I do not speak on my own authority,

but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father,

and the Father is in me,

or else believe me on account of the works themselves.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

whoever believes in me

will also do the works that I do,

and greater works than these will he do,

because I am going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name,

this I will do,

that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name,

I will do it.

That's the word of the Lord.

Yeah, you take that, thanks.

Thank you.

All right, good morning.

Axolotls are humanity's great hope of regeneration.

Did you know that?

Axolotls are humanity's great hope of regeneration.

In fact, scientists have been cutting them up for centuries,

you know,

chopping limbs off and watching them grow back perfectly,

chopping it off again,

watching it grow back perfectly.

And even before modern science got a hold of them,

well,

healers from all different groups

actually got a hold of them too,

and they thought they were magical

because they could actually regenerate,

not just heal,

like if you chop one of our limbs off,

we end up with a healed up stump,

but they would actually grow the whole limb back.

And they thought they were magical.

And so,

before modern science,

healers have been rubbing some kind of axolotl smooch,

I don't know how they made it,

but they've been rubbing that into wounds

in the hope that that would actually cure people.

It didn't work.

Quite painful,

the axolotls.

But what I want to suggest to you

is that we see something in the axolotls

that we crave.

If we've,

as a humanity,

have been looking at them for thousands of years

and envying something in them,

there's something in them that we crave.

that ability to regenerate,

to repair perfectly,

to seemingly live forever.

And we want to live.

We want to live.

Our hopes and dreams

form around our living,

not our dying.

Our efforts in this

are actually focused on this world,

here and now.

Our moods are deeply affected

by what happens here and now.

we get upset when we're disappointed.

We feel irritated with people

who block our goals

or don't deliver on what we want.

We're critical of them.

We struggle when life doesn't turn out

the way that we want it to.

We put so much effort in

trying to engineer the circumstances

so life does turn out

the way we want it to

and it does deliver the things

that we want it to.

We're talking about it.

We're talking about it.

We're talking about it.

We're talking about it.

We're talking about it.

We're talking about it.

Well, the disciples

that Jesus is speaking to

in this chapter

were no different.

They had a plan

and an expectation

of what Jesus would do,

how he would be glorified,

how he would rule,

how they would benefit

as his sidekicks,

as his co-regents in a way.

Their hopes were fully in him

and what he could deliver to them

right there and then.

Not by going away,

as he keeps saying,

but by changing the here and the now.

So Jesus' foot washing

in the beginning of chapter 13,

that was really disturbing to them.

That was kind of turning things around

on their heads.

That wasn't what they were expecting.

Jesus talking about going away

and even dying

was certainly not part of the plan.

His talk of them abandoning,

or him abandoning them,

because that's how they interpret it,

was devastating

and even more so

when he said

they were going to abandon him.

Mentally,

they were seriously confused.

Emotionally,

they were in turmoil.

They knew what they wanted.

They knew what their hopes were.

And they weren't actually

the direction that Jesus was going in.

There was this conflict.

The more and more they trusted in Jesus

and the more they listened to him,

the more they realized

that the way that he was viewing life

in the world

was so different from theirs.

they were in turmoil.

And Jesus

stops at this point.

He stops after saying to Peter,

hey, you're going to abandon me

in no time.

Tonight,

you're going to abandon me.

Three times,

you're going to say,

I don't know you.

Jesus stops at this point,

recognizes the turmoil of their hearts

and addresses it directly.

And that's what we see

in John 14, 1.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

And then he lays out three reasons

why their hearts shouldn't be troubled.

And each one of those three reasons

is linked to the need for Jesus

to go away to make it possible.

So let's look at those three reasons.

They're actually on the back of your bulletin.

You can follow through with that.

If you don't have Bibles,

you don't know how to look through Bibles,

then you'll actually get the Bible verses

up on the screen.

So you can follow that way if you prefer.

But the first thing Jesus says to them is,

trust me as I prepare the way.

Let not your hearts be troubled,

he says.

Here is the time for trust.

And here's the things you need to trust in.

Trust me as I prepare the way.

Now, as I speak about trust,

I want you to understand that the Bible,

the original Greek has one word,

which can be translated believe or trust.

So some of your Bibles will have believe

and some will have trust.

I'm going to use them interchangeably,

just so you're aware of that up front.

So remember that?

Believe equals trust.

So why trust?

Well, I think this is a principle

that we should all be aware of.

And if we're not,

then we should be now,

that trouble is the time for us to trust.

Trouble is the crucible

in which our trust is actually purified

and developed.

And so trust is the thing

that they need right now at the most

when they really don't understand

what's going on.

What are we to trust in?

Well, Jesus goes on to say

in the second half of this verse,

trust in God,

trust also in me.

Now, they're all over the concept

of trusting in God.

They understand that.

They've understood.

They've lived within the concept,

been raised as another generation

in the context of a religion

that has been pursuing trusting God

for thousands of years.

They understand that.

And they know how God works too

in the sense that his plan

has gradually unfolded

bit by bit by bit.

And this promise is becoming

more and more real to them

and more and more desperate

in their own hearts

for it to be realized.

They understand what it means

to trust in God.

So what Jesus says here

is actually really, really challenging.

He says,

trust in me.

Trust Jesus personally.

After three years,

you think of after three years

of living with Jesus

and traveling with him,

they've got a sense of

who Jesus is like

and how trustworthy he is.

But Jesus is saying more than that.

He's stacking their trust of God

alongside their trust of him.

So whether the coming storms,

the challenges that are going

to defy their expectations

of how God's kingdom will unfold,

they actually need to see Jesus

for who he is.

Not just another king,

but the king of kings.

And it's not just trust in Jesus,

but he goes on to explain

that it's actually to trust in Jesus

to prepare the way for them.

He goes on to say in verse 2,

In my Father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so,

would I have told you

that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again

and I will take you to myself

that where I am,

you may be also.

There's a bit of a picture

of movement going on there.

Jesus talks about going.

And where he's going here

is to heaven,

where the Father is,

via the cross.

We've got to remember at this point,

for us,

we look back on this,

we recognize that Jesus

has already died on the cross.

That's his history for us.

But for them,

it was future.

So when he's saying going here,

he's actually referring to him

going to heaven via the cross.

And his going to heaven

via the cross

is to prepare a place for us

in heaven

through the cross.

And then he speaks about

coming again

to take us to himself.

What is he talking about here?

These people are troubled.

His closest disciples are troubled.

They're deeply distressed.

And so he starts to speak

about heaven.

You could say the new heaven,

the new earth,

I'm keeping it down just to heaven

for the sake of simplicity

of expression.

But what Jesus does

to comfort them

is he stops at this point

and starts to describe

heaven itself.

and how his going

actually prepares

their way into heaven.

Now,

I'm going to suggest to you

that when we think about heaven,

there are a bunch of different ways

we think about it.

Rod's actually shared a few.

There's a wedding feast,

there's all kinds of different things.

But I would say

that the top three

most common things spoken

that people speak to me about

that they're looking

in terms of looking forward

to heaven are these things.

not necessarily in this order either,

but to be reunited

with my loved ones.

This is a common thing

that people talk about.

Looking forward to being in heaven

to be reunited

with my loved ones.

Whether it be my husband,

my wife,

my parents,

my children.

Some of us know the tragedy

of seeing our children die.

To be reunited with them

is just such an attractive thought.

Or perhaps,

for you,

it's to have an end

to suffering.

Whether it be personally

within your own bodies

and the promise

that that body

will be renewed

into a body

that will run

and not grow weary,

that will walk

and never faint.

That concept of actually

being renewed in that way

is a relief to you

because you suffer

in your body.

You're seeing the ravages

of time

or disease

affecting it.

I know I'm,

you know,

some of you who are older

will say,

you know,

I feel like I'm getting older

and some of you

who are older than me

will say,

you have no idea,

you're spring chicken.

But I feel like I'm getting older

and I've shared with you before

that I'd gotten to the stage

a few years ago

where I could go to bed

feeling fine

and I would wake up

with an injury

just from sleeping

like a stiff neck

or a sore back

or my knee was aching.

I can tell you now,

a few years on,

getting to sleep,

I actually have to find

the position

where I don't feel discomfort.

This is from a time

when I can remember

falling asleep,

well,

I can remember

because my parents tell me,

I fell asleep

standing up

in the doctor's surgery

while my mum was waiting

in the waiting room

to go in.

I fell asleep standing up.

Not only that,

I fell asleep on parade

in the Army Reserves

and I actually staggered

into the guy in front of me

and he held me up

until the sergeant

woke me up

and got me back

to my position.

I used to know

how to sleep standing up

and now,

what's going on

with my body?

This concept of actually

having a renewed body

is really attractive

and if it's not that,

if it's not the seeing

my loved ones

or the end of suffering,

whether it be internally

or what the world

inflicts on me

from outside,

it's the concept

of living in paradise.

Yes, there is something

better than Newcastle

out there,

the idea

of living in paradise

and again,

as Rod opened up,

there are a variety

of different views

on what that paradise

should look like.

Culturally,

each culture

has its own expression

of what luxury looks like.

Maybe it's for you.

When we went to Tasmania,

we sat in a nice hotel,

Joe and I,

it was great.

Every time we went out

the room,

it seemed that they would

come back in

and the bed would be made,

everything would be tidied up,

there would be more chocolates

on the pillow,

more than we could eat.

They only give you them

one at a time,

but after a while,

you can have enough of those.

What is luxury for you?

Being provided with meals,

being in a luxurious setting,

a widescreen TV

in the bedroom?

Joe?

No?

Things like that.

What I'm going to suggest to you

is that all of these things,

well,

not the widescreen TV

in the bedroom,

that's not necessarily

what's going to happen in heaven,

but heaven will not be disappointing

in terms of paradise.

We will not be thinking of heaven

and being disappointed

by the state that will be in there.

But if we focus on these things,

we're missing the point of heaven

that Jesus is trying to get across here.

The focal point of this place

is not the quality of the place,

but the presence of our God.

And until we understand that,

and until we own that in our hearts

as our ultimate value,

to be in the presence of God,

we're going to struggle

and struggle

and struggle again

with what he delivers

for us in life.

But let me suggest it to you

in these terms.

Joe's a good cook.

I love her cooking.

Not so pleased that she's

no longer milk and dairy,

sorry, dairy and gluten intolerant,

sorry, that she's dairy

and gluten intolerant,

but I love her cooking.

Now, I could list a whole bunch

of different things

that I love about Joe,

all the different things

I'm benefiting from

as her husband.

But if they were the sum total

of our relationship,

what would that be?

How would you judge me?

A consumer of her.

But to delight in her personally,

that's what God is calling us to.

He's calling us to a relationship

where he delights in us personally

and he invites us

to do the same.

The focal point of this place

that Jesus is preparing for us

is not the quality of the place,

but the presence of our God there.

So as we read these words,

Jesus is saying,

trust me as I prepare the way for you

into the presence of God.

The God who's trappings you love,

but who is far greater

and more worthy of your love

than anything he's provided for you.

Jesus goes on.

His lesson isn't finished here.

He goes on and says,

don't just trust me

as I prepare the way,

but trust me

because of who I am.

Because of who I am.

Now just understand here

that when Jesus talks about himself

being the way,

he's talking about himself

as the way,

him personally being the way

for us

to come into relationship

with God again.

And as he talks about himself

being the way,

we discover that there are

two misunderstandings.

It comes in the context

of two misunderstandings.

Firstly, Thomas and then Philip.

And if you have the ESV Bible app,

then I'd encourage you

to look up Thomas and Philip

and look at how they're portrayed

in the Gospel of John.

They're not portrayed

as the brightest people.

They're not portrayed

as the most enthusiastically

trusting people.

But I'm going to suggest to you

that both Thomas and John

ask questions

that we need the answers to.

So praise God for them.

Perhaps you're that person

in your small group

or in your friendship circle.

You ask the questions

that seem stupid

to everybody else,

but even the intelligent people

actually need to engage

with the answers of.

And let's look at Thomas.

Thomas,

he's straight away,

as Jesus is talking about

going and preparing a place.

Thomas comes straight up

with his question

in verse 5,

and he says to him,

Lord, we do not know

where you are going.

How can we know the way?

Thomas has a literal

interpretation here.

He doesn't know

the destination

or the way,

so we can tell

that he's sort of existing

on this literal level.

He's existing,

he's thinking in the here and now.

How is God engaging

with my here and now?

There's a saying we have,

isn't there?

Too heavenly minded

to be of any earthly good.

Well, perhaps Tom,

you could say,

was,

Tom,

that friends here,

Thomas,

was too earthly minded

to be of any good.

Jesus sees this

and responds to him.

He says in verse 6,

Look what Jesus says here.

I am the way,

the truth,

and the life.

not the way

in the sense of a signpost

or a Google map search

directions

or simply the speaker

of truth

in a world

where lies are so common

or even the life

in the sense of being

an example

of a good and moral

and upright life.

Jesus says

he is these things.

Jesus is the way.

He doesn't simply

show the way.

He came from the Father,

a place Jesus told Peter

that he couldn't go to yet.

And then by trusting

in Jesus

who died for us,

we are now able

to go with him

back

to the Father's presence.

Jesus is the way.

And Jesus is the truth.

He is the word of God

in human form.

Not simply a messenger,

but God personally

declaring himself,

revealing himself.

revealing himself to us

and showing us

to ourselves

at the same time.

Jesus is the way,

he's the truth,

and he is the life.

Jesus,

what Jesus is saying here is,

I have life within me.

It's not something

that can come and go.

He's saying,

I'm the source of life.

Life flows outward

from Jesus,

richly and abundantly

from him

into everything else

that exists.

Jesus is the way,

the truth,

and the life.

When he comes,

when he encounters Thomas

and he's very earthly thinking,

the way that he sees

of breaking that mold,

of breaking that mold

of thinking,

is to lift him out

into a bigger understanding

of what's going on

by understanding

who he is.

And he continues that

with Philip

because Philip

has an issue as well.

And Philip's kind of grappling

with these things

and hearing them

and he's just going,

oh man,

this is just too hard.

Like I said,

you look him up in John

and you'll discover

that he's like a

remedial learner,

shall we say.

And he said,

oh look,

show us the Father

and it is enough for us.

Do you know that sense

of wanting more?

As simple as Philip is

in his asking this question,

do you know that sense

of wanting more?

When things happen

and you just think,

man,

what is going on?

How is Jesus real

if this is happening

in the world?

How is this,

how is Jesus,

my saviour,

if this is what he's

letting happen in my life?

I could put up with it

if I just got to see

more of him.

If I got to see something

that convinced me,

that just overwhelmed me

and convinced me

to carry on.

Here's a man

who is wanting more.

But in the context,

the context that he's saying

that is,

he's wanting more

than Jesus.

Jesus responds,

he says to him,

have I been with you

so long

and you still do not

know me,

Philip?

Whoever has seen me

has seen the Father.

In verse 9.

For Jesus to prepare

their troubled hearts

for what's to come,

they need to understand

what he is doing.

And more than that,

they need to be clear

about who he is.

Jesus said,

I am the way,

the truth,

and the life.

No one comes to the Father

except through me.

That's an exclusive statement

because the personal God

has come personally

to rescue us

back into

a close personal relationship

with him.

There aren't other ways.

There is only one.

And he's there

right before them,

urging them

to trust in him.

So Jesus says,

trust in me

as I prepare the way.

Trust in me

because of who I am.

And he goes on

and finishes

by saying,

trust in me

as you continue

my work.

Each of these

points up to this point

have actually been

focusing on

trusting in who Jesus is

and what he's doing.

At this point,

we start to see

how who Jesus is

and what he's doing

has a direct impact

on us now.

These truths

aren't just simply

propositional truths.

They're not just things

we hold in our heads

and they make us

feel warm and fuzzy.

These are truths

that actually shape

how we live,

how we act.

That's what we see here

and the word work

is something that's worth

understanding here

and bearing in mind

because even in these verses,

these last few verses

of this section,

we actually get a bit

of an understanding

of what work is.

So I'll give you

a definition of work.

In its broader sense,

is doing the Father's will

that the Father

be glorified.

So when work comes up

in these verses,

doing the Father's will

that the Father

be glorified.

Let me have a look

at what Jesus says

in terms of continuing

his work.

In verse 12,

Jesus says,

Truly, truly,

I say to you,

whoever believes in me

will also do the works

that I do

and greater works

than these will he do

because I'm going

to the Father.

Jesus' work

is doing the Father's will

that the Father

be glorified

and we're actually

invited into that,

into the same,

to continue that.

So everything

from the words

that he says

to the things

that he does,

we read here.

Everything

from the words

that he says

to the things

that he does,

including miracles.

Now that obviously

raises a question for us.

Does that mean

that we should all

be doing these kind

of things,

including miracles?

So when we take on

the works

that Jesus was doing,

do we get to do

miracles too?

I'm going to say

that's a possible

application

of what's being said here.

It's possible

that what Jesus

is saying is

an outworking of this,

as you do my work,

that you will do miracles.

But what he is

definitely saying is

that you

will be doing

the Father's will

that the Father

be glorified.

We focus so easily

and readily

on the miracle aspect

and that becomes

such a point of focus

for us

because we're concerned

about the here and now.

We're not seeing things

the way that God does.

I don't want to

write them

totally out of the picture,

but I do want to say

to you

that each point

in which Jesus

refers to his miracles

as his works,

those works

have a purpose

and that is

that people might believe

that Jesus

is the one

the Father sent.

So they have a purpose

in themselves.

They point to Jesus.

You don't actually

have to do miracles

in order to do that work.

It's just one of the ways

that that happens.

May God choose

to use that again?

Possibly.

But definitely

we get a sense

of what it actually means

to do the Father's will,

that the Father be glorified

as we look into

what works are

because Jesus goes,

he actually says here,

greater works than these.

How can there be

something greater

than what Jesus has done?

How can there possibly

be something greater

than that?

Let's have a look

at how Jesus speaks

of doing work.

And in chapter 4,

verse 31,

Jesus tells his disciples

to do the work

of gathering

in the harvest.

In John 6,

John 6:28–29

verse 28 to 29,

when the crowds

that he just fed

actually ask him

what work should we be doing,

he tells the crowd

to do the work

of believing in him.

In John 5, 21,

Jesus tells his disciples

that the Father's

greater work

is to raise the dead

and to give them life.

If we kind of just

sort of bring

all those things together,

what we get is

that the works

that Jesus is talking about,

these works are greater

because from now on,

they will actually be pointing

to the completed work

of Christ.

Jesus' work

will be completed.

So when they talk

about Jesus

and they witness to him,

they're witnessing

to a completed package.

that place

is prepared

in heaven for us.

He's not going

to do it.

It is prepared.

It's done.

It's not like Jesus

has taken 2,000 years

to build your room.

The works are greater

because from now on,

they're pointing

to a completed work.

When Judas left the meal

to betray Jesus,

he set that final act

in motion.

And Jesus acknowledges

that in John 13, 32

where he says,

Now is the Son of Man

glorified

and God glorified in him.

Judas left

and set in motion

the acts of that night

which would lead

to both his betrayal,

his sentencing,

and ultimately his death.

witnessing to Jesus

finish work

is the greater work

that we're actually

involved in.

And just as we

close up on this passage,

I think it's really

important to look

at where Jesus

lands us

when he finishes

what he's saying.

He says,

he goes into

instruction on prayer

at this point.

And it's important

that we understand this

because doing Jesus' work

is only possible

in Jesus' strength.

He says in verse 13,

Whatever you ask

in my name,

this I will do,

that the Father

may be glorified

in the Son.

If you ask me

anything in my name,

I will do it.

I'm going to suggest

to you that

the way that we

read these verses

shows that

there's a problem

in our hearts

in terms of

our own expectations.

I'll give you

a few different ways

we can read them

that demonstrate

a problem.

Firstly,

we can read them

and think,

hey, great,

a blank check.

I can ask

for whatever I want.

It's like,

think Aladdin

and the lamp.

Just rub that lamp

and I'm already

starting to think,

okay, so what am I

going to spend

my wishes on?

We can read them

and think,

blank check.

But for any of you

who have existed

in that thought

process,

even for long

enough to form

a prayer,

you will know

the second thing

that we react

to these verses

like,

and that is,

it doesn't work.

It's a great

promise on paper,

but it doesn't work.

I've tried it

and I didn't get

the answer.

It's because we're

thinking like the

scientist with the

axolotl,

chopping it off

and watching it

grow back,

chopping it off,

wanting to find a way

of actually improving

our current existence.

Are we asking

that the Father

be glorified?

Are we asking

in the Son's name?

I'm going to suggest

to you another way

and this is probably

the way that,

we're kind of a

conservative evangelical

church,

I think this is one

of the ways that we

actually really struggle

and that is this,

I don't dare ask.

We're thinking,

okay,

whatever you ask

in my name,

this I will do,

the Father may be

glorified in the Son,

okay.

Yep,

okay,

that's got to be true,

it's there in the Bible,

I trust the Bible,

but I'm not ready

to trust the Bible

in action

so I don't ask.

Some things seem

too big for me

to ask,

some things seem

too presumptuous.

We may even

convince ourselves

it's an act of humility

that we don't ask.

How sad is that?

Friends,

we need to be thinking

like people

who are learning

to trust in God

just like the disciples

were.

Thinking like people

who that trust

is actually beginning

to develop in our lives.

Thinking like people

who just long,

love to see

who Jesus is

in his word,

how God reveals

himself to be

and look at,

take those promises

that he makes

for us seriously

and start to

want to see

those things

happen.

I think we need

to pray

accordingly.

We need to pray

big prayers.

Let God

sort out

how he's going

to deal with it.

There's no prayer

that gets no answer.

Every prayer

gets an answer.

It may not be the answer

that you've envisaged,

but pray big prayers.

Friends,

don't shrink

this promise down.

Don't empty

of the extravagance

of the invitation.

Ask.

And be reshaped

by whatever answer

you get.

Ask again.

Let me say

in conclusion

that

if you look

at these verses,

they're a call

to trust

in the context

of troubled minds,

troubled hearts.

Our hearts,

when they expect

something in this world

and they don't get

what we hope for,

our hearts

as they're gradually

being transformed

to expect

and not only expect,

but to actually

treasure

what God says

we should be hoping for.

Hearts that value

the fact

that Jesus

had to go away

to prepare

a place for us.

and that path

took him

to the cross

and through the cross

to heaven.

That he had to go

to become

the way for us.

That he had to go

to provide

the greater works

for us to be doing

even now.

And friends,

when you feel

that conflict

in your hearts

and that life

is just not turning out

how it should,

recognize

that troubled heart

as the point

at which you can

learn more deeply

these truths.

Learn more deeply

to trust in Jesus.

To lean on him

instead of the kingdoms

we're so

busily building.

To see the opportunities

to do his work

rather than our own.

To learn to long for

the joy

of being in his presence

when our work

is finally finished.

Let me pray.

Father God,

I've got to confess

that

I can't value enough

what you've done.

I can't appreciate it

the way that I should

because I am so conflicted.

We are.

We know

life in this world.

There's so many

good things about

the world that you've made

and we just keep

tripping up

and making those things

a main thing

and forgetting

the goodness of you,

the one who provided

all things.

Lord,

we pray

that you would show us

the points of conflict

in our lives

where perhaps we're not

even seeing any conflict

whatsoever.

We're just easily

just giving ourselves

over to building

our own kingdoms.

Lord,

bring us back

to building your kingdom.

bring us back

through the sure knowledge

that you loved us

so much

that you brought us

into your kingdom

even though we are

as ignorant

as we are now.

Lord,

we thank you

and praise you

and we long

for your return

and in the meantime,

Lord,

grow us

in appreciation

of who you are.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.