Our Need for Peace
Inner peace. Own it and you’ll be tranquil, though the world crumbles around you. Without it, nothing you gain will give you contentment.
Peace is defined as freedom from disturbance; serenity, quite, mental calmness and tranquility.
As humans, we need peace and we’ll take all manner of paths searching for it.
Fear Threatens Our Peace
When deadlines looms and stress builds, we fear failure.
When relationships are strained, we fear being unloved.
When we fail, we fear being rejected.
When life gets hard, we fear the pain of our trials.
When debt mounts, we fear insecurity.
When illness strikes, we fear death.
And the list of fears goes on. Fear threatens our peace.
Not as the World Gives It
On the night before He was crucified, Jesus said to His disciples,
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives it do I give to you; Let not your heart be troubled, not let it be fearful.” John 14:27 (NASB)
The world was never supposed to be our source of peace. Jesus is our peace, the peace of His Holy Spirit, which indwells us.
Jesus wants us to give up trying to find and maintain our own peace.
This is extremely freeing, but very hard to do because we’ve been in charge of our own peace our whole lives. Consider how much of our lives have been spent trying to keep our hearts from feeling disturbed and troubled?
Imagine not being responsible for your own peace any more.
Jesus commands us is to not be fearful and to not let our hearts be troubled. He gives us His peace. So, we can rest in Him.
Prince of Peace
Centuries before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold his coming:
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)
Among other titles, Jesus is called our Prince of Peace, but what does this mean?
From the Hebrew words used:
Prince – ruler, leader, chief, captain
Peace – completeness, soundness, welfare, tranquility, contentment
Jesus rules our peace. If we let Him.
We’ve been wearing ourselves out seeking peace, when our only job is to choose Jesus in the midst of every fear.
What a relief!
Prayer
Lord, thank you that You are my peace. You tell me not to have a troubled heart and to not be fearful. This is Your command. I choose You as the Captain of my Peace. I choose You as my Peace. Please guide me, when life’s adventures threaten to steal my peace. In Your strength, help me to choose You over fear. Help me to rest in You as my Peace and to not let my heart be troubled.