by Kevin Burton
If I were a computer, my memory verses would stay memorized. But I am not a computer.
So I have to review the verses to keep them in my mental and my heart’s rolodex. One error I had been making, now has me thinking.
The verse is John 16:33, which in the NASB reads: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
For a long time I had been recalling it as “take comfort” instead of “take courage.” Is that significant?
Both the KJV and the NJKV, the other two versions I read regularly, render that as “be of good cheer.” The English Standard Version, which I use very occasionally renders it “take heart.”
Jesus offers believers both comfort and courage and the Bible is full of passages pointing to both. So maybe this has everything to do with my current mindset, but just now I find a sharp distinction between the two.
Comfort is comfort and I’m all about that. In that spiritual supermarket I can see myself looking past can after can of courage, looking for comfort.
Comfort and ease. They go together like carrots and peas. Yum, yum!
But to speak of courage, that implies you’re about to attempt something difficult. This is why I am reaching past the courage to grab comfort, and perhaps why I was mis-remembering that part of the verse.
So this is me self-assessing with some regret, that I haven’t been to the front lines of that great spiritual war lately.
But the comfort/courage question is superceded by a greater comparison, that between “in me” and “in the world.” God help me to not ignore that former question, but to emphasize the latter.
John 16:33 is “the summary and climax of the upper room message,” theologian Warren Wiersbe wrote in his commentary. The verse begins with “these things.” So we need to ask what things and read the whole chapter.
Jesus break down a lot of things to the disciples in that chapter; the coming persecution, His own death and resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the promise that He would answer prayer.
“Why did He give this message? So that the disciples might have peace in a world of tribulation,” Wiersbe wrote.
“Note the contrast between ‘in me’ and ‘in the world.’ In Christ there is peace; in the world there is tribulation. This is the position we need to claim: We are in Christ, and therefore we can overcome the world and all of its hatred.”
“George Morrison defined peace as ‘the possession of adequate resources.’ In Jesus Christ, we have all the resources that we need. But peace depends also on appropriate relationships, because spiritual resources depend on spiritual relationships.”
“‘In me’ is the key. In ourselves, we have nothing, but ‘in Christ’ we have all that we need” Wiersbe wrote.
“Every believer is either overcome or an overcomer. ‘And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith’ (1 John 5:4).”
“The world wants to overcome us; this is why Satan uses the world to persecute and pressure believers. The world wants us to conform; it does not want us to be different. When we yield ourselves to Christ and trust Him, He enables us to be overcomers. We must claim our spiritual position in Christ and believe Him for victory,” Wiersbe wrote.
The disciples lived through a time of political turmoil and Americans are about to have theirs escalated. We are likely to see political bloodbaths on a scale we have heretofore only read about from safe distances.
Courage and comfort, yes please Lord, I’ll have both!
“‘Be of good cheer!’ is one of our Lord’s repeated statements of encouragement. Literally it means, ‘Cheer up!’” Wiersbe wrote. “There is the ‘good cheer’ of His pardon (Matt. 9:1-8), His power (Matt. 9:18-22), and His presence (Matt. 14:22-27). Here in John 16:33, He announces the ‘good cheer’ of His victory over the world.”
“We are overcomers because He has first overcome for us.”
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