“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” 2 Thess. 3:16
The promise is “peace”. How peaceful do you “feel” today? Maybe that’s the problem…looking to our feelings.
Everyone around us is fearful of something…we know there is no peace experientially. From our Instagram and Twitter feeds to our television, we are told to fear global terrorism, extreme weather, and political turmoil. Our private lives are filled with still more sources of anxiety. As a whole, we are an increasingly anxious and uncertain culture. And therein is an extraordinary paradox, for we live more safely than ever before. Though we are safer than almost any other society in history, safety has become the holy grail of our culture. And like the Holy Grail, it is something we can never quite reach. Protected like never before, we lack peace in our lives like never before.
How can this be? Quite simply, our culture has lost God as the proper object of fear which brings with it the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. That fear of God is a happy and healthy fear that controls all other fears, reining in anxiety. With our society and the Church (too often) having lost God as the proper object of healthy fear, our culture is necessarily becoming more neurotic and anxious. In ousting God from our culture, other concerns—from personal health to the health of the planet—to safety have assumed an almost divine spot in our minds. Consequently, we feel helplessly fragile, filled with anxieties because we lack peace in our lives…but do we? Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Jesus left us peace in the form of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, makes sure it is always there for us…starting with our justification which granted us peace with the God of the universe, our gracious Father in heaven.
With this in mind, we have many reasons to thank God, praise God, adore God today because of His commitment to grant us peace from the beginning of our responding to Him in faith. God’s peace which is experienced when we live in and pursue what it means to be people who fear of the Lord centers, settles, and encourages our hearts. From Him there is never pressure to just “get over it, buck up, and be strong”. He welcomes us in our weakness, confusion, and frailties…because He has granted us peace through His work on the Cross.
In Paul’s words, Christ continues to promise peace “at all times and in every way (read, every situation)”—because of the presence with of the Holy Spirit within. What we need more than anything else is to know that He is always with us and for us, to know that He love us and is in control of all things. In what ways then…in what situations or circumstances can we expect peace to be granted? We should pray that He would grant us peace:
(1) As we trust Him with the hearts and futures of our children. No matter the age of our kids.
(2) And forgive our unbelief;
(3) To free us from our “meddling” in your will;
(4) To show grace enough to love, accept, and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.
(5) As we make important decisions. Some of us are facing career changes, housing dilemmas, economic challenges, and health issues.
(6) To have the courage to stand firm and proclaim the Gospel in this hostile environment.
May God grant us His peace to make the “right choice”… the one that He directs (from His Word and confirmed by His people)…the one we know to be true because we fear the Lord rightly, and not the culture around us…the one that keeps us in the peace of God given to us from Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
