“In the world you will have tribulation.” John 16:33 Where do people get the idea that if you follow Jesus you can expect a life that is free from failure, disappointment, and loss? This is precisely the opposite of what Jesus Himself said. Jesus confronted His disciples with the realities of life: “In the world you will have tribulation” (16:33). Then He established their hope in another world: “I go to prepare a place for you” (14:2). If your hope is established in this world, you will be shattered by failure, disappointment, and loss. What are you going to do when you experience a loss that cannot be replaced in this world, a disappointment that remains for a lifetime, or a failure that changes the course of your life? Jesus is establishing His disciples in a faith that can stand through the misery of personal failure, the sorrow of gut-wrenching disappointment, and the pain of irreplaceable loss. But, in order to do that, Jesus must establish their hope in another world: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). Here’s our hope: “In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (15:20). Jesus’ answer to our failure, disappointment, and loss lies in the Father’s house. Don’t we have the Holy Spirit now? Doesn’t Christ say that the Spirit is with you and in you? Yes, and the Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. Where is your hope? Is it based in this world or in the world to come?
