To be frank, life has been a bit crazy lately. Everywhere I turn there seems to be some sort of new bump in the road of life, and none of them have felt small… in fact they all remind me of a pot hole my dad and I once hit on our way to dip net fishing one year where we hit our heads on the roof of the suburban… but I digress.
In all of this it is amazing to me how the Bible, and what I have been reading and learning, continue to be relevant to every situation. The Bible truly is the living word of God, and sharper than any two edged sword. I couldn’t find more applicable sections to my life than what I have been reading lately if I tried.
This last month I have been going through the book of John. So I was sitting down doing my reading the other day, if I am being honest that day I was just reading because I am supposed to to read the Bible. It’s expected of me as a Christian, and especially as someone who holds the title of “Pastor”. So there I found myself, in a depressive frustrated lump, reading my Bible when I came across John 16:33. Jesus has been speaking to the disciples and wraps up everything with
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Now to give this verse some context. Jesus has been sitting and talking to His disciples for quite a while. The things He has been talking about are… not great, and honestly pretty troubling. He talks about how He is going away, how the world will despise, reject, hate, and kill them. He has also given some comfort in the fact that the “Helper” is coming (Holy Spirit). But all in all everything before this was… well lets just say it was not a great pep-talk… no one was leaving that with warm fuzzies. But Jesus wraps up all of this in the end with three simple statements.
The first statement Jesus made is this: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.” There is a lot to unpack in this statement. Jesus has been talking about Him going away, about how the world will reject them… but He has also given hope, saying that they will be able to communicate directly to The Father (God). We can try to find our peace in all sorts of places… and we do try to find our peace in all sorts of places! But the only true, continual source of peace is in Jesus. That is where we need to seek to find our peace.
The second statement that Jesus made in John 16:33 is: “In the world you will have tribulation”. This is a simple statement of a fact. This world will be rough. There will be conflict. There will be strife. There will be pain. There will be sorrow. Life is going to suck. But…
The third statement that is made brings us back to peace and hope: “But take heart; I have overcome the world. ” Let me let you in on a well known secret… JESUS WINS!!! HE CONQUERED HELL DEATH AND THE GRAVE!!!! So take heart! Have courage. Yes we will experience tribulations because we live in the world. It’s a fact of life. But it is also a fact of life that JESUS HAS OVERCOME IT ALL! Ultimately we will have peace comfort and life in Him for all eternity!!! I dont know about you, but THAT fills me with the warm fuzzies. Through the struggles of like take heart, because Jesus has got you. HE has overcome the world.
I wish I had some sort of profound quote to end this with to help it stick with you, but I dont. Whenever I write it is simply from where I am at at the time. It’s about what God is teaching me in the moment, because that is what is fresh and real and alive in my life at the time. Currently he is teaching me to find my peace in Him, to not focus on the tribulations of the world, but to focus on His peace, and to find my rest in Him.
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