In this World you shall have tribulation …
We have a wonderful family in our church. Both the husband and wife have been actively involved in ministry for many years. Two of their three sons are involved in full-time ministry. One as an Associate Pastor and the other as a Minister of Music. About two years ago the son that is the Pastor and his family were involved in a very serious automobile accident that left him in a coma and the family in the hospital for weeks. Through a series of miracles God spared their lives and gave them a wonderful personal testimony of God’s grace in times of tragedy and heartache.
About a year after the accident, though still on the mend, the couple spoke at my church to share their testimony of the accident and to thank our congregation for the prayers of it’s members and other churches in the area. Their recovery has been truly miraculous and the coming together of the local Christian community in prayer and service for them tremendous.
One statement Jeremy made was this, ‘If you have not recently gone through a crisis or currently going through a crisis, you will be in the future’.
On the surface that sounds like negative thinking. But if you stop and consider for a moment, it’s actually pretty sound logic. Since the fall of Adam and Eve this sin cursed world has constantly been in crisis. Becoming a Christian doesn’t automatically exclude you from crisis, in fact at times the crises are more frequent as we try to live for Christ in a sinful world. When we become Christians we are no longer citizens of this world, but citizens of heaven residing on earth. We are foreigners and outcasts to the world system. Our hearts become focused on things spiritual instead of things worldly. In John 16:33 Jesus says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”.
Be of good cheer?!? So the Lord is telling us in our tribulations to be of good cheer?!? Why in the world would I want to be of good cheer when I have problems? Look at the last part of that verse, “ I have overcome the world.”. As believers we are brothers and sisters in Christ and of Christ. We are partakers in His overcoming. As believers we share in that overcoming. Like Jeremy’s family we will see the miracles He bestows. We might not see them in the course of a year, although it’s clearly possible. We might wait years to see our troubles changed to blessings, we may not see the blessings in this lifetime, but it will happen. What we need is to remain confident in our God, be willing to follow Him and be willing to grow.
