Pursuing Peace
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 birth of Jesus on earth was announced with angel song declarations of coming joy and peace. Jesus left this earth declaring the same: “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
Peace. Why are we so far from this peace that the angels announced and Jesus promised? Perhaps it is there in the disclaimer Jesus writes in black and white; “…not as the world gives.” Do we keep grasping for worldly peace instead of something much bigger, something much better? What is the difference here between the world’s version of ‘peace’ and this peace of Jesus?
I am reminded of what God said earlier through the prophet Jeremiah: “I offer you living water yet you insist on drinking from cracked and dirty clay pots of your own making – which hold no water.” (My version of Jeremiah 2:13)
“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Maybe that’s our clue; we are seeking something life-giving, life-sustaining, from the wrong source. We are looking for peace from the world around us instead of from the God above us and from His Spirit within us.
The world has been placed on pause for many of us. In my world, the countdown has begun. Thirty days. Count them out. April has thirty days. A full month I have been given to let go of the world. To stop searching for my own source of polluted water. Thirty days to let God’s water wash over me and in me and through me.
Thirty days to let go of seeking solace in this broken world. Thirty days to seek God’s perfect promise of His perfect peace. Thirty days to lean into the One whose coming was announced by prophets and angels as the Prince of Peace.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
Sinking Deep Hillsong