Peace

It’s Monday Grace!

““I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27, NCV)

It is our Lord’s heart that we should walk through our days in peace. When Jesus prepared His disciples for what was to come, the crucifixion and His ascension, He said He was giving them peace, His peace. After those difficult days of grief and fear, He would give them His Holy Spirit so they would know His presence and His peace.

And, frankly, it was a great blessing. They didn’t know it, but they were about to enter challenging days. These believers would be rejected by family and friends, hunted and beaten and killed just for their faith in Jesus. Some of them would travel many miles to escape the severe persecution, leaving their homes and their nation. Difficult days were coming.

Peace, in the world’s version, means the absence of trouble. But Jesus did not give peace like the world suggested. Instead, He would be with them, in them, every step. They would know the truth, because of the Spirit, and they would find their peace in Jesus, no matter what trouble came their way.

I don’t know what lies ahead for believers. These are certainly strange and troubling days. It seems like common sense and decency have all but disappeared. People are running around in confusion and anger and fear. But believers are called to be at peace through such days.

Of course, it doesn’t take prophecy and world troubles to challenge the peace of our lives. We all know what it is like to get bad news. A difficult diagnosis, an unwelcome event, a worrisome word. There are enough troubles in our regular lives for the world’s troubles to take a back seat.

And even in those troubles, the ones that come in the mail or from the doctor’s office, the Lord is with us. He wants us to walk in peace. He does not want us to be afraid or worried. He does not want us to borrow trouble from tomorrow. He does not want us to be focused on our needs. He just wants us to walk with Him in peace.

Follow me. That’s what Jesus says to the people of this world. It is the only call to us. As we follow Him, everything else will fall into place.

““So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. “And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don’t have so little faith! Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25–34, NCV)