阅读经文 

耶稣想让跟随祂的人明白，他们前面的路并不容易。正如我们昨天看到的，我们应该为因着信仰而经历阻碍甚至是被人仇视做好准备。但除此之外，我们还必须处理这个堕落世界中的许多问题。冲突、焦虑、抑郁、贫穷、离婚、癌症、事故、灾难……这样的例子不胜枚举。

耶稣想让我们明白，生命中有些日子，甚至很长时间都会相当困难。圣经从未应许相信耶稣就会使我们的问题消失——实际上，有时恰恰相反。

但是，无论将来怎样，我们面对挣扎时都不会失去盼望。我们信靠那位死而复活的救主。祂击败了罪和死亡，赐给我们救恩和新生命。圣经导师称圣经中的这个主题为“基督的得胜”——即耶稣将胜过一切仇敌，我们因着信也要分享祂的胜利。

在基督里，我们有盼望在今生得着救赎。身体得医治，心变柔软，生命被改变。但即使我们没有经验到我们盼望的一些变化，我们仍确信，有一天我们将同享基督的得胜。

One of the things Jesus wants his followers to understand is that the way forward for them will not be easy. As we saw yesterday, we should be prepared to experience resistance and even hostility because of our faith. But beyond that, we will have to deal with many other problems in our fallen world. Conflict. Anxiety. Depression. Poverty. Divorce. Cancer. Tragedy. Disaster. The list goes on and on.

Jesus wants us to understand that there will be days and even seasons of life that are incredibly difficult. Scripture never promises that faith in Jesus will make our problems go away—in fact, sometimes the opposite is true.

But whatever comes our way, we do not face our struggles without hope. We have put our trust in the Savior who died but then rose again. He made our salvation and new life possible by defeating sin and death. Bible teachers call this theme in Scripture Christus Victor—the idea that Jesus will triumph over every enemy of God and that we will share in that victory because of our faith.

In Christ, we have hope for the possibility of redemption in this life. Bodies can be healed, hearts can be softened, and lives can be changed. But even if we don't experience some of the changes we hope for during our lives, we have the assurance that one day we will share in Christ's victory.