Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

John 16 contains a low-hanging fruit that I feel led to expand on. Not to minimize the other 32 verses that come before it, but verse 33 will undoubtedly be the most far-reaching to all who are redeemed.

A brief recap of the first 32 verses of this chapter: Jesus continues preparing the disciples for His upcoming death, burial, and resurrection. Although they prove time and again over these past few chapters that they don’t understand, the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus will bring clarity to His teachings as well as reveal what’s necessary in order to equip them for the work.

Now to John 16:33! Jesus says, “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.”

If I were to ask you to name the one thing you want more than anything else, what would it be? Sure, a quick, surface-level response that may come to mind would involve being freed from a financial or health crisis. There’s nothing wrong with those answers, but I want to get to the root of those or any other answers that come to mind. Essentially in answering this question, the root of the answer would almost certainly point to a longing for peace. Notice in verse 33 where peace is NOT found. It’s not found in our finances, our health, our vocation, our sports teams, our social status, our spouse, our children, or our hobbies. Notice in verse 33 where peace IS found. It’s only found in JESUS!

“In this world, you will have trouble.” I’m sure we can all agree that we’d rather that part say “You may have trouble,” or “It’s possible that you have trouble,” or even, “You won’t have any trouble.” Whether it’s a loss of employment, a loss of a loved one, or an unexpected diagnosis to name a few, trouble can come in many forms. In this life, trouble is inescapable.

All of scripture points to the fact that no matter how frequent, intense, severe, or long our temporary troubles are here in this life, it is nothing compared to our sinful, wretched state before a holy God. “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Talk about a mic-drop statement! In overcoming the world, Jesus has put away forever sin’s eternal curse through His death, burial, and resurrection! Through Christ alone, our relationship with God has been restored! No matter what difficulty we face in this life, we must take heart by always remembering this truth and resting in the joy and peace that it brings. If our first breath to our last breath in this life consisted of a constant state of suffering and we still had even a shot at redemption through the blood of Jesus, it’s more than we deserve. The difficulties of this life are not the way things will always be. Our reward isn’t anything in this world. Our reward in Heaven is JESUS!

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• Perhaps you are going through a time of difficulty or suffering right now. Listen to the live version of the song “It Is Well” by Bethel Music. My wife and I made this our anthem when at 29 weeks pregnant she developed preeclampsia. Praise God that both Torrie and Aubrey made it through just fine, BUT even if they didn't, one line of the song “It is well with my soul BECAUSE OF WHO YOU ARE LORD” was the anthem of our heart through it all regardless of the outcome. I can’t put into words the peace that this brought both our hearts.
• Read back through that last paragraph of the devo. Even though my name is on this devotional, God’s grace wrote that last paragraph. I pray you never forget the truth of this passage!

Family Devo: John 16

By: Carrington Stuart

In today’s story from the book of John, Jesus had to give the disciples some sad news. Just like we talked about a little while ago, Jesus had to tell the disciples that He was leaving them to go back to Heaven and be with God. Even though they were sad, Jesus promised them that one day, they would be in Heaven with Him, too!

Jesus told the disciples that He loved them so much. He knew that the disciples loved Him, too, and wanted to tell other people about Him and God! He promised to send the Holy Spirit to help them and give them advice after He left. Jesus also told the disciples about how other people would not always be kind to them because they followed Him. He knew that it would be hard for the disciples to keep telling others about Him after He had to leave because people would try to hurt them and stop them. But Jesus also knew that one day, they would have the Holy Spirit as a helper and could ask God for anything they needed!

Our sins separate us from God. God is so good that He can’t be close to anything that is not good, like our sins. That’s why Jesus had to leave and go back to Heaven- He died on the cross for our sins so that we could be close to God again! Jesus lived a perfect life and never sinned. He didn’t do anything wrong, but people were still mean to Him and wanted to hurt Him.

Sometimes, people will be mean to us, too, maybe even when we try to tell them about Jesus. But guess what? Jesus is always with us and will help us to not be afraid when others aren’t kind! Just like Jesus told the disciples - we can talk to God every day. And Jesus is always with us! Even though Jesus is in Heaven right now, one day He’s coming back, and we have to tell EVERYONE about it!

• Who can you tell about Jesus this week? Has anyone ever been unkind to you because you believe in Jesus? How can you love others even when they aren’t kind to you?
• Prayer: God, thank You so much for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Even though Jesus is in Heaven with You right now, I know that He’s coming back one day. I’m so excited! Please help me to tell others about You and Jesus so that they can spend forever in Heaven one day, too. Help me to love others even when they aren’t kind to me, and help me to remember that I can ask You for help whenever I need it. I’m never alone because You are always with me! I love you, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.