In walking by the ocean today, I took some time to sit awhile and watch the waves with their rhythmic patterns as they crashed against the rocks. Peace came to mind as I soaked in the beauty of God’s creation. But that’s not what Jesus was talking about – peaceful thoughts stirred by gazing upon something beautiful. In fact, the peace he promises has nothing to do with pleasant circumstances or surroundings.
Jesus specifically contrasted his peace with the world’s to help us understand that the two are diametrically opposed. The peace offered by the world is evasive, threatening to leave at any moment. It’s conditional, based upon circumstances and good times. It’s imperfect, mingled with fear at the possibility of losing those things which brought peace to begin with. Someone with all that the world has to offer can still be completely without peace. Pride keeps them longing for more while fear strips them of the ability to bask in and enjoy their material comforts.
I remember as an unbeliever thinking that once I achieved certain goals I’d have peace. Yet when I got what I thought I wanted, peace was nowhere to be found. Like a mirage, it eluded me every time. With each disappointment, my insatiable thirst for peace propelled me into a more obsessive quest for it. Running determinedly in the direction of my dreams, I became blinded to the reality that past conquests were ineffective in achieving what I most longed for – a heart and mind at peace with God.
I look around me and see that the world’s quest for peace is no different. We search for it in our surroundings and relationships, our health, security and professions. We’re obsessed with staging peaceful lives only to have the winds of adversity and change blow them apart. A perfect vacation promises to give us that repose we so long for. Once we climb that mountain, looking out over the vast countryside, we see beauty that looks peaceful but it fails to provide us with an inner peace that’s healing or lasting. No matter how many trips we make to the beach to gaze upon the sparkling waves and listen to their calm roar, we’ll not find peace “that passes all understanding.” That peace can only be found in Christ.
We may lose all that the world deems valuable, but God has promised that he’s with us and will supply all of our needs, that our hope isn’t derived from the things of the world, but in belonging to him and fulfilling his purposes on earth. We are his children, adopted into his family and given a guarantee that nothing can ever separate us from his love. His peace is meant to impact us internally, affecting the very essence of our souls so that we’re able to experience calm in the midst of storms.
On many occasions I’ve forfeited peace while undergoing trials. I’ve panicked and allowed myself to fear the future instead of standing on God’s promises that he’s secured it for me. At the core of this fear and lack of peace is a lack of faith that God is who he says he is and will do all that’s he’s promised in his word. When I go through times like this, it doesn’t in any way disprove Christ’s promise of perfect peace, but rather shows my sinful decision to choose fear over faith.
As much as we long for it, we’re not perfect and won’t be this side of heaven. We’re living in the time of the already and the not yet, and the tension of this in-between time means that the complete realization and application of all of God’s promises is not yet perfected in our lives. We’ll have seasons, and hopefully ever increasing ones as we grow in grace and knowledge of God, where we experience great peace. But we also have times when we struggle with fear and anxiety. The goal during these times is not to embrace the struggle and so get stuck in it, but to accept it as reality with the prayerful anticipation that God will give us the faith to grow past it in the future.
We’re not stagnate creatures but people created to change so that we reflect Christ’s image. We do this in an ever increasing manner as we abide in his word, in prayer and walk by faith. He shows us daily his faithfulness and love, penetrating through those dark areas of doubt and fear which cause us to shrink back from walking by faith. The more we abide in him and find him faithful, the greater our faith becomes so that when hard times come that challenge our peace we’re more and more inclined to rest upon the Rock of Christ who has proven himself to be reliable. He himself is our peace.
