“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1 ESV

In this day of with change happening around us at the speed of light, many of us long for “Those good old days.” So, as an experiment I thought, “let’s turn back the clock sixty-one years, that should be sufficiently long enough ago to qualify as old.” Sixty-one years ago, I sat in seventh grade math class gazing at some long equations on the blackboard, when our P.A. system came on announcing that classes were dismissed for the day. There seemed to be some secret that the teachers knew but wouldn’t tell us. Nevertheless, as I traipsed home with my usual group of buddies, we were delighted to get out early on a beautiful Friday afternoon. But once inside our home I realized something terrible had happened. My mother was weeping, and I heard the television reporting that President Kennedy had been assassinated Yes, those day were old, but often far from good.

Jesus spoke today’s verse on a day far worse and yet far better than that. Judas had already rushed to the high priest to collect his reward for betraying Jesus. The meal had just finished at which Jesus had told his friends that His body and blood would soon be sacrificed. The disciples, though unaware of all the details knew that something awful was just over the horizon. After finishing the final notes of a hymn they quietly followed Jesus out into the night and headed towards their usual place of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Though nothing looked out of the ordinary, that night, their knees began to knock as they walked, and they jumped at every sound in the darkness. Then Jesus, turned, and said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled! You believe in God. Believe also in Me!”

Those guys were no different than any of us today. Maybe that night they longed for, “The Good Old Days’” when they simply followed Jesus around Galilee, watching Him perform miracles, preach to crowds and on one occasion even calm the wind and waves of a storm. But with those days just a memory, Jesus assured them of something even better.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 
John 14:6 ESV

That something better is for us as well as them. We no longer need to cling to the “Good Old Days” or even our own lives because, Jesus said He is our Life. He was all they needed then, and Jesus is all we need today. Jesus is far better and more precious than any “Good Old Days.” He makes the lame walk, the blind see and best of all He will lead us all the way to the Father, if we will only trust in Him!