“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
Some things in life can be hard to quantify or even identify. Peace fits in that category. Once you do finally get a handle (more or less) on what it consists of, you are left with a couple of more challenges along the way — how do you obtain peace and, once you do find a measure of it, how do you hold onto it through all of the ups and downs of life? These answers, as always will be found in the Lord and His Word!
What is peace anyway? It seems so intangible and ethereal and indeed it is not of this world. Sure, the world system and those who are a part of it will promise peace as it relates to the individual and peace between groups of people, even peace for the whole world, but that is a promise that will not and indeed cannot be fulfilled apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace can be defined as “Quietness and rest for the soul. The return of that which has been disrupted or unsettled to the way it was intended to be by God, the Creator of all things.” With so much evil in the world it is easy to find yourself “unsettled” to one degree or another from time to time!
When you consider how easily peace can get away from you, our verse for today is nothing short of awesome; to have Jesus himself give it to you as a gift and then to exhort you not to go through another moment without this precious gift. When you find your heart is troubled, like a ship tossed on the waves of a stormy sea, the only answer is Jesus. There is no end to all of the substitutes for true peace, many of which will offer a semblance of the real thing for a season. Those who trust in anyone or anything other than the Lord for peace will always end up back where they started; with a troubled and fearful heart!
Almost four hundred times we find the word peace in the Bible from Genesis all the way through to the Revelation. It is God’s will for you to have His peace. Over and over we see Jesus speaking peace to His disciples as they found themselves in unsettling situations, even to the point of literally being storm-tossed! Finding yourself in need of a fresh supply of peace is not a sign that you are not where the Lord wants you to be or that He has somehow forsaken you. Every day you are to fight the good fight of faith. You are a soldier in the Lord’s army. The disciples were on that stormy sea because Jesus had told them explicitly to get into that boat and go across that body of water at that particular time.
You are not going to have a storm-free life in this world even when you are always right where the Lord wants you to be and seeking to do His will with all of your heart. There will still be times when you need what only Jesus can give — peace. True peace. The good news is that you never have to wonder if He has some of it for you. It is not something you can earn or that He will withhold due to your imperfections. It is a gift He has already given.
Ask the Lord for His peace and be willing to give Him anything you have been trusting in to provide peace in His place. Trade the world’s substitute for true peace. Ask and you shall receive, for it has already been given to you by the Prince of Peace, Jesus. That is true peace!
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