Peace is a Gift

In John 14:27, Jesus is recorded as saying ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’

So, peace is given to us from Jesus. It is comforting to know that it has been given to us. He continues by saying that he does not give as the world gives.

Not as the World Gives

I suppose the world gives only while wanting something in exchange.

Hm… I thought this topic was going toward trusting in him provides us peace, but I think that would be contrary to what I have just said. I find the ring of truth to the statement that the world gives while wanting or even expecting something in exchange.

So, why do I want to say that we have to trust in Him in order to receive his peace? We don’t have to do anything except receive his love, why would it be any different with peace?

The Character of God

I think goes back to the original acceptance of the character of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we accept Him into our lives, he becomes provider. The declaration of faith that we have made needs to work itself out in all of us, within us. I think that is the struggle with peace in our lives. It is not a simple ‘trust in him’ and all will be well. It is ‘understand and know’ who he is and all else fades.

So, indeed he gives as no other gives. He expects nothing in return and wants only the best for us.

The Struggle of Peace

And then we have a 66-book compilation of what the best is for us. It comes to me that this is the root of the lack of peace in us: we reject that what he says is actually the best for us. We struggle to accept that the rules of a peaceful life are all written out for us.

Don’t get me wrong, I think we embrace Him and embrace the Word. Then we struggle to carry out what is best for ourselves. We hold on to the hurt, the shame, the regret, the past and lost dreams. We hold on to all the crap of our lives because it is familiar and maybe we feel ‘justified’ in it. But we are called to let it go, to let Him minister to us and through us.

Let’s ask him to show us what we need to let go of in order to unwrap the peace that he has given us. It is already given to us, what will it take to embrace it?