“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
I love this verse. I love this verse because there are times when my world is troubled. There are times when life hurts. There are times when life feels totally unfair.
I love this verse because of the context. Jesus did not promise peace to give his disciples the warm fuzzies. Look at the context. Jesus says in the verse before our verse, “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone” (v.32).
Jesus tells the disciples that things will get so bad that every one of them will desert their Master and Lord. Life is going to get hard.
There are difficult times. That’s life. Loved ones get cancer. Loved ones die. We get into a car wreck. We lose our jobs. Countries go through recession. Countries go to war. People betray us. People quit on us. That’s life.
Thank God there is more to life than the difficult times. But, difficult times are a fact of life. And it is precisely for such times Jesus reminds us, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Look at where Jesus tells his disciples peace can be found.
Yup.
“In me you may have peace.”
Peace has a name. His name is Jesus. Do you know him?
Praxis: Faith in Action 