Peace Anyway
Peac
Does everything in our lives have to be calm and uncomplicated to have true peace? When our world is spinning out of control and everything feels unfinished or overwhelming, is peace only for another day when I can get on top of everything?
If we believe the answer to those questions is “yes,” we will chase peace without finding it. I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant when he promised, “Peace, I leave with you . . . my peace.” (John 14:27b)
Do you understand that Jesus’ peace came from His Father, not his control of circumstances around him? His peace had the power of the Great Creator and the security of the One who holds the world together. His peace was strong and deep in a way that situational peace can’t give. It’s peace anyway!
But how? Our instincts look for peaceful times to bring peace. Jesus has a peace that coexists with any chaos or uncertainty that wants to pull us into its vortex. Jesus’ peace doesn’t numb us to realities, but gives us a stabilizing center.
Here’s what I’ve learned in some of my most out-of-control times. When the doctor told us that our daughter had months, not years, to live, I learned that peace was not a place; it was a person. I learned that the peace I needed didn’t come from an answer; it came from a person: Jesus. I learned that the closer I stayed to Jesus, and the more I stopped trying to control the uncontrollable or know the unknowable, the more of Jesus' peace I experienced.
I am thinking about this desire for peace more right now because we are living in unpeaceful, angry times. Disasters displace people, upending their lives for a long time, maybe forever. Even praying for peace during these times can feel unproductive and leave us without the hope we reach for.
Jesus is not absent here. But we often miss his way of coming because we look for something else—resolution, order, control, or whatever we think fixes our chaos. Jesus says, “The world will do what the world will do, but I have come to overcome the world. In my presence, in my reach, in my embrace, you can have peace anyway."
It’s not just a line to make us feel better. It is a rock-solid reality.
Where are you trying to cope, control, or ignore some chaos or negative circumstance? Jesus knows more about it than you can describe. But he also knows that without his peace, the chaos and unknowns can bring you down, sometimes farther than you can recover on your own.
I’m reaching for Jesus. Peace always comes where Jesus is fully welcome. I know I can’t control the uncertainties that continue to show up in my life. However, I also know that Jesus shares every reversal, upset, or unknown with me. His presence reminds me that nothing is out of his control. When I stop fighting to know more about some circumstance and just try to know more of Jesus, the fresh wind of peace settles me from the inside out.
What about you? Is there something out of control in your life? Take another look at Jesus who stands in the middle of our chaos to tell us “I am your peace.” It’s strong peace, a settling peace, a peace we don’t have to fight for. It’s peace anyway. It’s a peace that lasts longer, goes deeper, and makes us stronger so that others can recognize Jesus is our peace anyway.
To help you access this peace, you can download a page of scriptures, one for each day for two weeks.. Take them like a vitamin: one a day. Live the peace Jesus promised. Never settle for anything less.
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