1.)
Bad things happen to everyone. One question you hear often in a crisis is, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" The answer lies in another question: Why do bad things happen?? Bad things happen because we live in a bad world. Just like you can't do enough to get to heaven, you also can't do enough to have a life void of troubles.
2.)
If your life is in Christ, trouble as you know it doesn't exist. It's right there in John 16. In verse 33, Jesus says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" This is very encouraging if you can just get your worldly self past the part where He says we'll have trouble. If you're like me, you would just rather skip the "trouble" part altogether. Unfortunately, by trying to skip the "trouble" part, you only create more trouble and never, or at least rarely get to experience the Joy and Peace part Jesus talks about in verses 24 and 33.
On a personal note, I'm pretty annoyed with myself for getting caught up in the order of the sentences in verse 33 rather than the grammar of it. Because of the order of the sentences, I've had a hard time getting past the guaranteed trouble. But the truth lies in the grammar, not the order of the sentences. The first sentence, "In this world you will have trouble" suggests that this is something that will happen, but hasn't happened yet. The last sentences, "But take heart! I have overcome the world!" grammatically suggests that we should take heart NOW because Jesus ALREADY ("I have overcome") overcame the world. The best parts actually happened BEFORE the trouble. Hmmm....
So, there you have it. Two truths for the day, and hopefully for life.
