33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 (KJV)
I have often wondered why people get saved then when things start going bad they seem to lose faith in God. I have done it in my past too, but really there is no reason to. I mean you can look at the verse today and see that 1. we are promised tribulation in life and 2. we can have peace because Jesus has overcome this world and our Peace is with Him.
I think that we as Christians have gotten the wrong idea about salvation and Christianity. Remember, we are only going to spend a fraction of eternity in this life and our focus shouldn’t be all on our happiness. Our focus should be on telling others about Jesus and what He did on the cross for us. You see, we are not promised happiness. I know that sounds bad, but the fact is, happiness in this life just isn’t guaranteed. Why? God grants us peace about our eternity with Him, and that peace can definitely bleed over and cause us to be happy, but only if our life is in line with God’s will. You see we have all of eternity to be happy, but because of our sin nature we will probably have a life filled with stresses and turmoil. It’s like if you were an alcoholic and you kept drinking all of the time even after you got saved. Now, you can have the peace about your eternity, but God can’t give you peace about drinking if you keep drinking. So all of the stresses that come with being an alcoholic will definitely trouble you, but that stress is of your own making.
People, we have to get our relationships back right with God. There is coming a time when true christians will be persecuted because satan knows he loses in the end and he’s going to make as many Christians as miserable as possible. That’s why you shouldn’t go around searching for happiness in this life because if that is where your faith is, satan might just allow you to be just happy enough to miss out on the call of God. This isn’t designed to be gloomy, I mean we have all eternity to feel the Joy and Love of God and Jesus in person in heaven, so this little blimp on the timeline of eternity shouldn’t be our main focus. And if you are focused on telling others about Jesus and focusing on your eternal joy, then stresses in this life will be put more in perspective.
Remember, we are going to have troubles, but Jesus also told us to be of Good Cheer because He has already conquered this life and He did it attached to a cross unable to move. If that same Saviour promises us peace to go along with our tribulations, then I promise that the peace He speaks of is sufficient to take us through our lives and into eternity with Him.
I have a challenge for you this week. First, ask God to show you His plan for your life, and second, tell 1 person about what Jesus did on that cross for you.
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