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. (John 14:27)I really have never been a peaceful man. Some are naturally peaceful people. They are able to let things kind of flow off their backs. Not me.
I carry things around and think about them, I analyze myself and my motives until I have wrung out all of the good in them. I worry and I brood and all those things.
There have been people who tell me that I cannot be a Christian if I do that, that I must Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you (2 Peter 5:7).
While it is true that I give my cares to God, people who say that usually do not have the slightest idea what they are talking about. It is also not an easy thing to do.
My mind is, at times, a maelstrom of thoughts turning over and over in my mind, dealing with things that happened forty years ago and might happen tomorrow, that I have done or wish I had done, that I am thinking about for no reason – just a giant mental jumble. And sometimes it is overwhelming.
The apostle Paul was the same way. I don’t think he flopped off to sleep the minute he blew out the candle, either. He worried himself sick about the churches and situations they were in. But he still felt peace.
Paul wrote about his life situation in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12. A lot of bad things happened to this guy in the course of his ministry. And on top of it all, he writes, Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger? (11:28-29)
Yet it was also he who wrote: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Bad things can happen but you can still feel peace.
A lot of stuff to think about. I have had a lot of things happen to me in my almost forty years of ministry, both good and bad. That is not to mention all the other things that come along in life. Yet, as Paul said, there is a peace. Even in the storm, there is a peace.
It is not a smiley-lips peace, walking around looking stoned. It is a peace that is internal, that says no matter what happens, my God is real and he is alive, and there is a better place than this.
Knowing that brings peace, even when things are falling apart around you. That is the peace Jesus brought. Not peace like the world thinks, where nothing bad ever happens and we all stand around holding hands singing “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.”
But real peace from inside. That is God’s gift through Jesus to us.
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