overcoming

Here on earth you will have many trials & sorrows.

     But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

John 16:33b



Jesus said those words to his close disciples the night before He was killed.

I don't think He was speaking in some theological hyperbole...

     I doubt if any of us would if we know we were going to be brutally killed the next day.

Jesus was giving the disciples something to hold on to,

     because He knew they'd all abandon Him as well as fall into a pit of DEEP despair.



I don't think those words apply just to the disciples.

If those words apply to the disciples, the apply to us.



(Trials is defined as "a test of faith, patience, or stamina through subjection to suffering or temptation.")

Think about all the stuff in your life, or maybe will be in your life, that you could categorize as "trials"...

(go ahead, list them in your head for a second...)



(sorrow is defined as "a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others.")

Now, think of all the stuff that has happened in your life that has brought you a lot of sorrow...

     ...or maybe some of the stuff you know is gonna happen in your life...

     ...or your worry will happen in your life.



(Overcome is defined as "to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat; to prevail over; surmount; to gain the victory; win.")

Now absorb this fact...


Jesus says that's what He's done about those trials & sorrows.


He didn't qualify nor quantify that statement.

He just said I've overcome them - period.



So, if what Jesus says here is true, how then should we look at those trials & sorrows that plague each of our lives?