John 14:25-27 (NASB) 25“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
James 4:1-2a (NKJV) 1Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.
Peace is needed. Peace is promised. What is the peace that Jesus promised? The peace given to us in Jesus means “to bring to completion,” “to restore to the original,” “to become whole.” This peace depends on what we do about our desires, and comes when we give priority to God’s will. It brings inner harmony. It gives a certain measure of calm even when we are surrounded by turbulence and storm.
When we talk about “living in harmony” or having “a balanced life” we are coming close to the true meaning of peace. Peace is first of all an inner harmony of life brought about by the rule of God. It is as if God overrules the inner conflict of our life and the power of His peace prevails. This peace of soul is needed before there can be any other kind of peace in our life.
This peace may be lost to our awareness for a while, but not to our life. The peace of God remains as a kind of inner gyroscope that continually brings our life back to balance.
If peace comes to us as a gift from God, and if this peace results from the rule of God, what is our responsibility? Our responsibility is to serve Christ and to pursue the things that make for peace and the building up of one another.
Everyone who has found a certain measure of God’s peace is required to pay a price. The price is giving up our rights and giving in to God’s will. Many of us are so endowed with self-will that when the time comes to surrender, we fight to the bitter end, and the end is frequently a friendship, a marriage, a job, or sickness of body and soul. The strange thing about the price that has to be paid is that it only seems high before we pay. Afterward, we know we got a bargain, so little asked of us and so much given in return.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 2, 1992
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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