A subject we just spoke about a short time ago, but one that is always worthy of our time, peace, peace of mind specifically. With every positive emotion, love, joy, happiness, contentment, comes peace, with the negative one’s anger, frustration, anxiousness, peace flies away. But the peace we are speaking about is the one that the Lord offers us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
This perfect serenity is not altered by negative emotions, it is not out balanced by circumstances, it is permanent, never fading, not just always available, but always there. We are the ones that hinder the continuation of peace from the Lord within us, and it is always either from external influences, or the purposeful denying of the Holy Spirit’s desire in our lives.
Sometimes God leaves us alone, He does not forsake us, but He withdraws, as it were, and for the sole reason that we would seek Him more, but most of the time, we are the ones responsible for the lack of peace within us. I did not say the lack of peace that we feel, for that would mean that your faith in Christ is emotion based, and our faith cannot hinge on emotion, but must be based in fact, it must rest on the rock, not the sand. (Matt. 7:26-27)
Adverse circumstances will come upon all of us, it is one of the ways that our faith grows, no evil will befall us, (Psalm 91:10) everything that happens to us is for good, (Romans 8:28) but we are human, we will doubt, we will lose our peace for short periods of time, and if your faith is not built on the solid rock, you may falter for far too long, in fact, the rest of your life and the path that you are to be on may be modified in a way that is not only detrimental to your witness for Christ, but may actually offend the Lord, the inverse of Hebrews 11:16 is possible, “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”
This perpetual peace that we are offered is completely foreign to the world, they are tossed about by the waves, (James 1:6) every item that is placed in front of them causes an emotional response, and in the days that we are living in, a negative response is what is offered the majority of the time. Now, you could spend your time watching uplifting videos, reading books meant to help you calm your mind, listen to music that is soothing, but that is not going to give you this peace, it will lead you further down the emotional path that we have mentioned here.
There is one way to know this “peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” (Phil 4:7) and that is to search out the promises of the Lord in the Scriptures. If you trust Him, you will know that His promises are true, if you trust Him, you will have peace. Not the longer you are saved, but the longer you serve, not the time spent just in the Word, but the time spent contemplating the person of Christ, this is what causes peace to grow within us. He has walked the path that we are on, He knows the pitfalls, He knows our burden, and He knows our heart.
The peace that He offers is not altered by the “newsworthy” events, not one thing in either the world or our own personal lives can alter this peace, it is not something that we need to search for, to struggle for, it is not available in any other form but in Christ, we must just simply learn to abide in it, and we do so by trusting Him completely.
