Peace Be With You

Peace is hard to find in a world that is filled with war, violence, sickness, social media, opposing opinions and the list only goes on from there. Over the past few years, I myself have found it hard to find peace in the midst of all of these situations. My heart breaks for those suffering, those who are living in a war zone, suffering from illness, and living in constant fear that today might be their last. I find it hard to find any kind of peace in this world. This led me to question if peace was even an option anymore. Peace felt like a thing of the past that was far from attainable. With all of my responsibilities on top of trying to balance a relationship with others and my relationship with God, I felt like there was little time for peace. The issue was that I was basing my level of peace on worldly situations and not on the real source of true peace, which is Jesus. As believers, our peace should come from the Lord and not the things of this world. The Bible teaches us that true peace does not come from the world but from a connection to Jesus and God the Father. At the end of Jesus' time on earth and His time with the disciples, He gave them this message found in John 14:27. He told them, “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.” The peace in which He is speaking about here is the Holy Spirit, the third part of the trinity. This is the kind of peace that we should be seeking out and the peace which we should be leaning on in the midst of the struggles of this world.

I know I am not the only believer and person that struggles to find peace. We all seek peace in our lives. We desire the safety and comfort that peace brings. We must remember that world peace and spiritual peace are not the same things. One is based on the physical things that happen all around us and the other is based on the love and protection of God above. Worldly peace is controlled by our current circumstances where spiritual peace only comes from a deep love and relationship with God. When we are connected to God we find true peace that cannot be changed by the situations around us. We have peace in the middle of the bad times because we understand that there is a purpose for the pain and there will be an end to the pain that will honor the kingdom. True peace comes from knowing that we are not in control but that there is a loving Father who is in control now and always. Peace from God is just like love from God, it is unconditional and eternal.

When we find our peace in God it becomes easier to find peace in the situations that surround us. Although we see and understand the pain of this world, we are not as affected by it. John 16:33 says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus has overcome the world so that we don’t have to stress about the pain and evilness that occurs in the world. Even when we are affected by the world we know that our peace will remain because God is in complete control and we get our peace and comfort from Him. Although we will still have times of high stress and tribulations we know that it is temporary and peace will rule over the situation if we allow it.

Think about a high-stress moment in your life. Think about the difference when someone with peace comes to help versus someone who is caught up in the stress comes to help. Depending on who comes to your aid can lead to two very different outcomes. The person with peace leads to a quicker solution and one with stress only drags the situation out and causes more stress. In these times we hope for a peaceful solution and no additional stress. As such we should be striving to be that peaceful helper in all of our situations. We should learn to lean into God for His peace instead of fighting for worldly peace.

In closing, I want to leave you with two verses that I hope will encourage you. First is Colossians 3:15 which says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” We are instructed to let the peace of the Lord rule in our hearts, not the things of this world or even our emotions about the situation. When peace is in our hearts we can easily see the work of God in our lives. The second verse comes from Psalm 29:11 and it says, “May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!” We learn that true spiritual peace leads to strength, strength that allows us to walk fearlessly in our faith among the world that will hate us for it. Strength is not always about being the strongest person in the room but being the most level-headed and resilient in a struggle.

Please know that I take everything that happens in this world very seriously. I don’t advise you to turn a blind eye to the pain and suffering that happens. Instead, I encourage you to pray for those affected and provide love and support for them out of the abundance of the true peace which the Lord has granted us. Please be mindful of the amount of influence the world has on your peace and understand that God is the source of peace, not the world or our situations. Take God’s peace with you as you go through the struggles of your day.