“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)

I have a theory that faith is all about our perception. It is a theory that needs vetted, nonetheless, I believe it holds value when living on this side of Heaven. It is simple to understand and easy to say, but difficult to put into practice. Our faith in Christ Jesus allows us to look past the now and point our minds towards things that truly matter. Faith is the hope that the promises of Jesus are true – that we will live an eternity with God – that we will conquer death, fear, and pain in the new Jerusalem because Jesus has paved the way for us. When we become angry, we perceive the current situation as being more real than what Jesus offers us. We put Christ to the side, so that our current emotions have room to grow. However, when our perception of life events is centered on Christ, we tend to ask ourselves how much does this current setback impact God’s eternal plan? In other words, how important is winning the argument, getting the raise, beating that terrible driver to the red light – how much will these things matter on the day of Jesus’ return? I’m sure we have all seen people with great faith overcome incredible obstacles. I believe this occurs when faith leads to a clear perception of what matters. We shared in Sunday School that Paul sang songs of worship after being beaten and imprisoned. His contentment can only be obtained through an obvious perception that proclaiming God’s word was more important than whatever man could do to him. And that perception was based on his faith in action. The Christian life will not be an easy one because this world has fallen to sin. But if we perceive events through faith, then we would know that Jesus “has overcome the world.”