Profound Peace
July 17, 2024
I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 NLT
No matter what source originates the study – faith-based or otherwise – results always show that peace is a core desire of human beings. Our spirits and bodies cannot exist well without it. Soon after the creation of the world began in perfect peace, our human tendency to try to supply our own needs took over, and we have been in turbulence ever since. The vital but troubling news we all need to grasp is that we can never provide our own peace. No amount of coffee, wine, medication, meditation, or beach vacations can give it to you. We try to fool ourselves with the thought that if we could just arrange the right circumstances, we could get the calm, freedom from anxiety, and core peace we need. But that’s a delusion. It will never happen.
YOU are not the source of the peace you need. But there is one Source. Jesus came for that very purpose. Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus and said that He would be the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Zechariah, father of John the Baptism celebrated Jesus before He was born, saying that Jesus would “guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:76). In the New Testament alone, God is called the “God of Peace” at least seven times.
Jesus is the only source for true peace in three different vital areas:
1. Peace with God. All of us begin as enemies of God who choose to go our own way and look for our own satisfaction. But the story of Jesus is that God offers peace to His enemies. Those who submit to Christ through faith and repentance find peace with God! Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus has done for us." This is by far the most important peace offered to you.
2. Peace with other people. Jesus makes peace in the most impossible situations. Paul wrote of the peace that Jesus offers between Jew and Gentile enemies in Ephesians 2:14: “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” Jesus gives us the power to have peace with people we consider our enemies. He says that when both parties know Jesus and have His peace, they find agreement in a way they never could otherwise.
3. Peace with ourselves. Inner peace is the most elusive. But Jesus enables us to have it. It doesn’t mean there will never be storms in our lives, but it means that Jesus will be with us, giving us peace in the middle of the high winds and waves around us. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27). He gives us HIS peace – the peace that carried Him through arrest, torture, and death. Then came new life! This Jesus-level peace is what He offers us!
- In what insufficient ways am I trying to get peace? Jesus, help me turn to You only.