Looming Dragons & Icebergs

Mythically speaking, this world is like a sea filled with looming dragons and icebergs. We’d be fools to count on smooth sailing. Some of the icebergs will shake us. Some monsters will stalk us. Our vessel will suffer some damage. Anyone who says otherwise is either clueless or selling false assurances.

But while this voyage isn’t the Love Boat, it also doesn’t need to be the Titanic. Not if you understand what’s really going on. Once you do, the icebergs no longer catch you off guard. When Jesus says we’ll have trouble in this world, he’s not being negative. He’s naming reality. There is chaos in this world. It’s not a possibility. It’s a certainty.

But his words reflect an even greater certainty. Let’s look at his complete statement by including the sentences that bookend his warning of trouble: 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 16:33 NIV)

First, he tells us his motive. He’s come to give us peace. But is it realistic to think that this foundation of peace can keep us safe in the midst of chaos? Often, my pushback comes because I just want Jesus to clear away the chaos of my life. I view peace as the absence of chaos rather than something that is possible in the midst of chaos.

In this world we will have trouble. No one gets a pass from the swirling chaos around them. Yet Jesus comes to give us peace. Not peace dependent on a peaceful world. But peace in the middle of a shaken world.

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