Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:31-33
Jesus was warning the disciples that their faith would be shaken. They would find it much easier to believe on Him in the upper room than in the Garden of Gethsemane, where they would all flee each to his own, and would abandon Jesus. Friends, the very truth that we must remember is that our faith in the Lord will be shaken at different times in out life. Not everything that we are involved in will be a mountain top experience. We sit in here this morning hearing and feeding on the word of God, praising his name in worship and song, but what happens when your boss screams at you on Monday?
How is your faith when the kids climb out bed to get ready for school and none for them want to get dressed and they are all fighting amongst themselves, or the car doesn’t start? Or you get the dreaded phone call that someone you love dearly has just passed away and your life is thrown into a spiral… How do we overcome and learn from the Lord? It is easy to have faith when life is good, but how do we have faith when it is difficult?
Listen carefully, Jesus did not promise peace; He offered it. He said, “you may have peace.” People may follow Jesus yet deny themselves this peace. We gain the peace Jesus offered by finding it in Him. We won’t find real peace anywhere else other than in Jesus.
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:1
Jesus is our way to peace as well it was not just for the disciples but for all that will come to him.
For Jesus is our peace, who has made the both one and broken down the middle wall of division between us. – Ephesians 2:14