One of Jesus’s followers named Matthew shares a time in his friend John’s life. It’s found in a book called Matthew (guess he didn’t put much time in thinking of a catchy title) in what we call chapter 11. Matthew tells us that John is in prison and had been for a few months, he is most likely chained to a couple guards and things do not look very good for him. While sitting in prison John hears about Jesus hanging out with the disciples. Let this sink in for a minute. This is John the Baptist, the guy that was hand picked by God to be the one to tell everyone that Jesus the long awaited Messiah was coming. He has done such a good job that people wanted to follow him, he even got to baptize Jesus. And now he is stuck in jail knowing that most likely he will lose his life sometime soon and Jesus and his other friends are out traveling through Galilee. So John does what any of us would have done in his position: he questions God’s plan. He sends a letter to Jesus asking Him if He really is the One or did he mess up somewhere. I love Jesus’s response, it’s found in Matthew 11:4-6. Jesus basically tells John to remember the things that He has seen and heard about Jesus. The sick that have been healed and the people that have had their lives changed by Jesus. He tells John that the person that doesn’t stop trusting when things aren’t what they thought they should be will be blessed. The crazy thing here is John’s circumstances didn’t change but I think his attitude did. I think John found hope even though he was still in jail and he was put to death not long after. Sometimes our circumstances are just that, circumstances. It’s easy to confuse this world with what we have waiting in the next. Jesus never promised that this life would be easy, He did promise He would never leave us or make us go through things alone, and He would always love us. Oh, and He also promised us a place where the pain of this world will never be thought of again (that’s a pretty good promise) if we would trust Him. What Jesus told John is such good advice for us: remember your experiences with Jesus, the times God has shown up in your life.
In his Mark Batterson’s book In a Pit With a Lion, Mark says: “The greatest breakthroughs in your life will happen when you push through the fear.” Maybe you are not where you thought you would be in life right now. Maybe you should pause and think back to the times Jesus has shown up in your life, the things you have seen and heard that have Jesus all over them. Maybe make a list and write them down and put the list somewhere close so you can re-read it and add to it as needed.
If you don’t have it already, I would encourage you to get Mark’s book. It has been a huge encouragement in my life. You can order here: In A Pit With A Lion