Got Peace?

Where’s your peace about your future? Where’s your peace about your past? Do you have peace right now? Do you know where to go to find it? Human lives are filled with turmoil and stress. Restlessness rules the day and the night. Peace is a casualty of modern day living. Some have more money but less peace. Others have a lot of education but little peace. The more we feel connected through social media, the more we become lonely. Where is your peace? Peace cannot be found in our work or our hobbies. Families can’t give you peace. Money or lack of it often takes away our peace. Political power cannot give us peace. Friends are not equipped to be our peace. The world system has a false peace that is shallow, fleeting and can be taken away. Worldly peace is sometimes based on merit and ability to compromise our principles. We lack peace because of our sins. There is no peace for the ungodly because we were born sinners. Our mothers conceived us in sin. Until our sins are forgiven, we cannot experience the peace God offers—a peace beyond understanding. Sin separates us from God and only those who have made peace with God are truly peaceful. Peace with God comes before peace from God. Peace with God makes you a recipient of peace from God. This is an important step with positive downstream effects on our other relationships. Peace from God makes it easier for us to have peace with others. People lack peace because there’s no peace for those who do not have the Prince of Peace in their lives. Coming to our Lord Jesus in repentance and faith takes away our sin in exchange for His peace. This peace is beyond our understanding because it is supplied by our Savior. It depends on grace rather than merit and is independent of what is happening to us externally. It cannot be taken away from us by people and problems. It is deep and satisfying. Do you have it?  You can have this kind of peace in the middle of a crisis. With this peace, it is possible to sleep well during a storm. Jesus did it and so can you. He is saying to you right now, “Come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you have been forced to carry. I will give you rest. Accept my teaching. Learn from me. I am gentle and humble in spirit. And you will be able to get some rest. Yes, the teaching that I ask you to accept is easy. The load I give you to carry is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, ERV). In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the only way to true peace. He alone died for our sins: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  “...Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30,31). Your salvation is a gift. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).  “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Ask Jesus to forgive you your sins. Thank Him for dying for you on the cross. Ask Him to come into your heart. After you do this, you will have true lasting peace that no one can take away from you. Listen to Jesus, “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” (John 14:27).