Jesus has given you great peace
In a previous post You have the peace of Christ!, we saw that when Jesus was leaving His disciples and returning to Heaven, He intentionally left HIS peace behind with them. He didn't forget it, He left it willfully and mindfully.
You might ask, of all the things He could have left behind, why peace?
Firstly friends, He wasn't going to need it in Heaven (smiles). Heaven is a peaceful place and each inhabitant doesn't need His own peace as it were; the peace of God in Heaven overwhelms everyone and everything. The bible says in Rev 21:4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Everybody is joyful and happy because the Glory of God fills the place. Oh, you don't want to miss Heaven!
On the contrary, earth is a chaotic place and every single inhabitant of earth needs peace! We live in a world that is filled with trouble, distress, frustration, agony, etc. The world is loaded with problems to say the least; there's no doubt about it and of course we are not naive. In short, Jesus Himself recognized this very well. In John 16:33, Jesus said "...in the world you will have tribulation...". He went further to say in Matt 6:34 that "...sufficient for the day is its own trouble." That is, every day has its own trouble sufficient for it. In order words, you shouldn't even bother adding the problems of tomorrow to that of today because today is already fully loaded with troubles.
Friends, this reality places a premium on peace. The daily load of troubles in this world greatly accentuates our very need for peace, because if you are going to be disturbed by every challenge, you will have a million and one, and even more, challenges to be disturbed over, and this is ominous (Prov 17:22). Moreover, for us to not just survive, but thrive mentally, emotionally, physically, etc, we need peace always, every second of every minute of every hour of everyday of every year for as long as we live; and this is God's desire for us (2 Thess 3:16).
Hence, when Jesus was going to leave, He intentionally left His peace with us. He willfully gave it to us so we can live the kind of life He lived on earth. A life without fear, without worries. A life of confidence, of faith and boldness; knowing that God is in control, that He cares, that He is always at work in our lives and that He causes all things to work out for our good.
Furthermore, for us to be healthy all round (mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc), the peace we have should be equal to the troubles we experience such that it effectively cancels out the consequent distress or it should be greater than the troubles such that we have a residue of peace, so to speak. Hence Jesus didn't leave just any peace as it were with us, He left His own! He gave us His peace! The peace by which He could sleep in the midst of a raging and life-threatening storm; the peace by which He calmed same storm; the peace by which He fed over 5,000 starving and expectant people; the peace by which He walked on water; the peace that surpasses all understanding! the very peace of God! This is the nature of the peace He has given to us. It is peace that can be spoken to inanimate things, to our environment as He demonstrated when He spoke it to the storm. Friends, this is a glorious gift!
Such peace infinitely overwhelms all the troubles, issues, challenges we will ever face for as long as we live.
Finally brethren, if you are saved then this peace has already been given to you. You just have to start exercising it (and do it in the nature it has been given, not an adulterated version). But if you are not saved, then the peace of Jesus is available for you today, you have to first receive Jesus into your life. It is absolutely unnecessary to wait any longer to experience such a beautiful life that is available in Jesus. Give Him a chance today and see Him release the peace that surpasses all understanding to you. God bless you!
Comments