Alicia Taylor

Blessed Assurance
 
In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.  John 16:33
 
Some promises in life feel more like threats.  "Click it or ticket," promises the highway patrol when motorists fail to fasten their seatbelts.  Not all promises warm the heart - and that includes Jesus' promise of trouble in John 16:33.  Note, though, that these words are not a threat.  Our Lord simply states a fact of life - life that in our fallen world often includes trials, traumas, and turmoil.
 
Shakespeare once wrote about "Double, double toil and trouble ..."  Some days, weeks, or years, toil and trouble do seem to double down on us.  Fraying relationships.  Unraveling finances.  Workplace worries.  Double toil and double trouble seem to be our lot in life.  Even Jesus confirms turmoil's inevitability.
 
The hope we need comes from the Lord's promise that comes at the end of this same verse:  Take heart!  I have overcome the world.  From our Lord's cross and empty tomb flows ample proof that those who cling to Christ in faith simply cannot lose!  In life and in death, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.  Christ has conquered!  He lives and reigns, now and forevermore.
 
Trusting that Jesus has overcome and that he shares his victory with us makes every promise of our Savior comforting - even his promises of trouble and trials.  Christ walked the earth fully human and knows how tough life's troubles can get.  He understands and empathizes with us.  The sacrificial love of Jesus gives us hope in this world, come what may.
 
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!  O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Prayer for Today

Lord, you overcame the world.  Teach me to "take heart" as right now I face ...