PEACE
Jesus said,
“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
NIV)
The peace
Jesus speaks of is not the absence of war, or absence of conflict with another,
but an inner gift from Him of His own peace, in order that our hearts would be
calm and fearless.
Consider
what His peace looked like: At His most troubled moment, knowing His painful
death was near, did He stew silently and alone? Did He drink away His fears
(alcohol and drugs were used then as now to numb the pain of living and the
fear of dying)? No, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to talk to His heavenly
Father. When He stood before Pilate, did He quake in fear? No. He was calm,
fearless, resolute. When He was whipped and scourged and a crown of thorns
pierced His head, He endured it unafraid. When He was mocked and spat upon, He
was at peace. When He was crucified, He calmly spoke to a condemned criminal and
promised him paradise that day, gave the disciple John to His mother, and
forgave the soldiers and others who were killing Him.
Such was His
peace!
It is this
peace, His peace, that He gives freely to us, that our hearts might not be
troubled or afraid. It is a peace that is not the absence of strife, conflict
or pain, but of calm poise in the midst of it. Such is the peace of Christ. We
obtain it by allowing Him into our lives and hearts.
BREATH
As a young
baby coming out of the womb cannot live on its own unless it breathes, so we
cannot live in relationship to God without the Holy Spirit given to us—without
the Holy Breath that we breathe.
And without
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath, we have no peace. Without the Spirit, it is
like what happens when we stop breathing. We get anxious. We become frightened
because that which gives us life has stopped.
The peace
that we do not have in this world is because we do not have peace inside. And
we do not have peace inside if we do not breathe, if we do not have the holy
breath—the Holy Spirit living in us, breathing in us, giving us life.
Without it,
we become anxious. Then our outer life begins to reflect that.
That isn’t
what God wants for us.
For reasons
beyond our comprehension, God loves us and desires relationship with us,
covenant with us. For reasons beyond our comprehension, God loves us and
desires to give us mercy. For reasons beyond our comprehension, God loves us
and desires to save every last one of us, and give us breath, the Holy Spirit.
And so let each of us make this very personal. Pray something like this,
but in your own words:
“Lord, I seek rich relationship with You as
close as my very breath—not simply a set of instructions, doctrines, or ways to
behave, but You living with me and in me. I ask Your forgiveness for all the
things I’ve done that have kept me from You. Come to live with me, in me,
through me. Make this covenant with You full.”
Pray for
that kind of covenant, that relationship, that close and that rich—now, and
everyday.
In Christ
Pastor
George
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