Inspiration & Worship
Is Peace Possible?
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t’s not like we risk our lives just to catch supper anymore. We live in one of the safest time periods and societies ever, enjoying average lifespans undreamed of a century ago. Why, then, does high anxiety take such a toll on modern individuals? Jesus Christ taught us there are two kinds of personal peace: the kind found in the world and the kind found in him. The first mostly depends upon on factors beyond our control. The second is rooted in our faith; no one can take inner peace away from us, although we can choose to relinquish it. Shortly before he was betrayed, Jesus began preparing his disciples for the terrible events that would follow. He understood their fear and anxiety. “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1) Clearly upset, the disciples asked him questions. Jesus explained that when he is gone from the earth, “the Comforter” would come to dwell with them. “Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells in you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.” (John 14:17-19). Jesus asked his followers not to be troubled, which means it was something attainable. “Peace I leave with you,” he says a few verses later in 14:27. “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Many more scriptures speak of the “peace that passes understanding” given to us by Jesus Christ, which is rooted in the hope of his return and the knowledge that we have eternal life through his grace, not our own goodness. “These things I have spoken to you that in me you might have peace,” he says in John 16:33. “In the world you will have tribulation: But be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” ❚
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