Well, bad jokes aside, good news and bad news is a real part of our lives. The good news may be that you've just got a raise but the bad news is that it throws you into a higher tax bracket. For young adults the good news of graduating college is met with the bad news of student debt becoming real. Perhaps you remember Senator Pelosi's good news of many having more time to be with family now that they were cut from full time to part time due to the burden of health care reform on small businesses.
Even the Bible warns of the reality of good and bad news coming together except that with Jesus, the bad news is over-weighted with the good news. Sooo, what do I mean by that? Well, listen to the words of the Master:
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. “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.” (Jn 16:32-33)
Jesus warns his disciples that the time was near when he would be arrested and they would all run like rats fleeing a sinking ship - not very good news. The reality of the cross and somber fact of their lack of faith and courage would soon become evident. But, there was no need to lose heart because, despite their human frailty, he would carry the day for them, he would snatch victory out of the jaws of their defeat in their behalf - as they were being overcome by the evil of men, he was overcoming that world of evil.
Yes, sadly they could not and would not measure up when push came to shove, but happily Jesus was pushing back against the Evil One with a power that Satan could not resist, and the disciples (including us today) would not become statistics of a fallen world, rather they/we would become, as Paul proclaimed, "hupernikomen" ("more than conquerors" Rom 8:37). If you sound out the Greek word "hupernikomen," by the way, it sounds like a bit like "Supermen," which is precisely what it means to say. We are, by the power of the Spirit of Christ, Supermen!
We are supreme overcomers of everything the world has to throw at us - not by our own power but by our grit but by His Grace. What we may be called to face in this life may be more than difficult but what Jesus calls us to is more than can be described. So, don't be dismayed, don't be defeated, don't be downcast - instead, knowing the victory you have in Christ, "Rejoice always and again I will say, rejoice!" (Phil 4:4). Jus' Say'n.
We are supreme overcomers of everything the world has to throw at us - not by our own power but by our grit but by His Grace. What we may be called to face in this life may be more than difficult but what Jesus calls us to is more than can be described. So, don't be dismayed, don't be defeated, don't be downcast - instead, knowing the victory you have in Christ, "Rejoice always and again I will say, rejoice!" (Phil 4:4). Jus' Say'n.
No comments:
Post a Comment