W6D5: Will Be With You

"The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:9 NASB

We all want someone to be with us, to come along side us and share our joys and our burdens. Our flesh will want only certain people to pour into us in certain ways. No one else and no other way will do. So, when they are unable to fill the needs we have in the ways we want, we are devastated.

“Seek comfort in those you trust, but don’t rely on them. If they're gone, you might just shatter.” Unknown

No person, place or thing should be our source. Our parents are not our source, our spouse, our kids, our friends, our boss, our job, our possessions are not our source. If we make them our source, we are setting ourselves up for disaster because all of these things are temporary. People leave, they die, they change and they grow up. They make mistakes and bad choices. Earthly possessions are all fleeting too. Economies change, storms, fires, so many factors can take us by surprise and wipe away everything we have. 

Jesus didn’t trust mankind, but He loved every person He met. He never leaned on those around Him for comfort and He didn't expect comfort from others. When He spoke or performed miracles, He didn't expect people to do things for Him in return. He didn't expect them to believe, to follow or tell Him how great He was. He just laid out the Truth from God, revealed His heart and allowed people the choice to love Him.

Jesus loves us where we are, without expectations of perfection or love in return. He can do that freely and easily because God alone is His source.

Jesus didn’t trust man with His heart because He knows the depravity and failings of the human heart. No matter how hard we try, we cannot perfectly love and we cannot perfectly come through for others in the ways they want us to. To love without expectation is freeing. It soothes relational pain and disappointment and it heals our destructive thoughts of bitterness and unforgiveness.

When God is our source we can love others without expectations because we know God will give us all we need, even though it is not always all we want. We no longer love others for what we can get out of it, we love them only for what they can get out of it. We release all of our needs for God to fill in His way and in His time. Now that is trust.

Nothing and no one of this world can always be with us. That is why we need Jesus and His promise that He is always with us. He sees us, He hears us, He knows us and He loves.

'There is only one being who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.” Oswald Chambers

Have you ever felt betrayed and abandoned by people you thought would always be with you? Let God bring them to mind, write down their names and allow your heart to release them from your expectations.

Meditate on “will be with you" today.