John 16:33
Troubles in this World
33 “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.”
John 5:3-11
Struggles of the Lame Man at Sheep Gate
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
John 14:1-4
Jesus Has Prepared a Room in Heaven for His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
I was told by a friend that life can be hard...But we must see that there is more to life than this earthly life...And when we believe in what Jesus teaches us, we can believe this...
Jesus asked the man who had been an invalid for thirty eight years, "Do you want to get well?"...Jesus knows that life can be hard...And He tells us that in this world we will have troubles...We live in a troubled world...This man who was an invalid would have needed, in the past, much help in his life to get around to get the very necessities he needed...The man could not even get into the pool when the water was stirred, to try to be cured...The question of "Do you want to get well?" was more complex than one would normally think...It seems everyone wants to be well and have the ability to wait on themselves...The one being healed would now face the world and all its troubles from a very different perspective now...
And after Jesus tells us about this troubled world, He does not leave us on that note...He 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.”...He knows that throughout our lives we will have troubles, problems, sufferings, and even death...In the end, He has overcome this world of its troubles, and its sometimes callousness, and its death...The Disciples will meet with Him after their deaths and into the rooms He has prepared for them in heaven...They will see His glory in heaven...So we should all take heart in this...That He is the One who gives us hope and comfort and prepares for us a special place in heaven...