“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.”
This is one of those oft-offered verses of encouragement that increases in power the closer you look. And it is powerful. This verse focuses us on one of the primary outcomes of the Gospel… PEACE.
Peace is not a gift that the world gives to us, on the contrary, it often brings the opposite. In this world you WILL have Trouble. That is – expect it, do not be dismayed that it is so, or demand that it be otherwise. The trouble that we experience in this world is the natural result of the world’s being out of alignment with God… Trouble… kind of inevitable, right?
By contrast, IN ME you may have Peace. Note the juxtaposition of “in me” and “this world.” They are, truly, opposites. One is out of alignment with God, opposed to God; the other is in total alignment with God, IS in fact God.
Simply put, Jesus is the sole basis for true Peace. IN ME means turning godward, believing that God so loved us that He sent Jesus to us with this mission of grace, healing, and divine empowerment, and then relying totally on him for the care of your soul, your life-with-god… This, Jesus tells us, is the basis for true Peace.
Jesus goes on to point out that He has OVERCOME the world. There is a battle, very real, between the Peace that Jesus offers and the Trouble that a fallen world brings. The fact Jesus has overcome the world means that we will find His Peace deeper, stronger, more durable, than the world’s trouble – victorious, in a word.
There is a great deal of Encouragement to be found here.
In Jesus, we have Peace – the certain knowledge that in Him, we have all the resources we need to meet any and every challenge to our Life-with-God.