“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
This morning I was reflecting on the Musical Monday song "Overcomer" by Mandisa and I remembered this verse where Jesus tells us to have peace in this world because he has overcome it...and so I thought I'd do a bit of research on it.And wouldn't you know it, when I went to a site for a devotion by Billy Graham, my computer stopped me because pornography was trying to load on my screen. Oh how this verse just applies even more so.
See, this world is Satan's realm - and that's all! I'm so thankful that I have placed my hope in Jesus so that after my short time on this earth ends, I know I'm going to a place where all the heartache and bad things just don't exist.
The power of this world was overcome when Jesus Christ accepted going to the cross for our sins. He had no sin and took our upon himself as the sacrifice so that we might have eternal life in heaven. The peace he refers to is not the absence of strife here on earth (because he says "In this world you will have trouble" and if you are reading this devotional blog post then you know what I'm talking about as someone struggling with an addiction. But the power of this verse lies in the fact that Jesus says he has overcome this world so that we might have the hope of heaven. That is the peace in our lives we can have during our walk on earth.
My youngest child once asked me why can't God just take all the bad things away. And while that is such a HUGE question, for their age I simply answered, "So that we desire to want to know God. If everything was perfect we wouldn't think about Him at all here on earth." Of course that's not at all the entire answer but for him it was enough at bedtime. But the simplicity of this answer does reveal part of the truth. God really does desire our fellowship with Him in prayer and scripture time and eventually in heaven. He made us so why wouldn't He want us back?
So today as you see bad things happen around you - or perhaps you made a decision yourself that you wish you hadn't, take heart, Jesus has overcome this world. Have peace in that.
