Songs echo the idea of world peace, some people just can’t get any peace, and many people have been to countless counselors and therapists to try to find it.
Do you have it?
You Can If You Want
I can tell you how to have peace- not because I’m super smart or have a magic wand, but because my King secured it for us, prescribed it to us, and backed it with His life.
What Is Peace?
The peace I’m talking about here is biblical peace. What is that?
It is the peace you might think of when two warring parties lie down their weapons and pledge not to harm one another physically. The heart of peace is complete reconciliation, physical and emotional, between two parties that were at odds with one another.
Throughout the Bible, you can see that this peace is associated with emotional and physical meanings as well. The Old Testament uses the Hebrew noun and verb for peace 338 times and the New Testament uses the Greek word for it 91 times.
But I’m Just Looking For A Feeling
You might have opened this blog just looking for that tranquil feeling of peace we’ve long come to associate this word with in modern English. But hang with me a little longer.
You can’t truly have that feeling without having biblical peace.
Where Does it Come From?
God tells us in His Word.
It is something God gives us as a gift (Psalm 29:11):
The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
It comes from knowing God (2 Peter 1:2):
“May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
But I Don’t Need Reconciliation With Anyone
If you’re going to have this kind of peace, you have to first be without it. Many might say- I don’t need that kind of peace. I don’t have an enemy!
Consider Romans 5:10
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
and Philippians 3:18
For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
You see, without Jesus Christ and His cross, we’d all just be enemies of God. Unless we have God’s gift of peace with Himself through the knowledge of Him (Remember Psalm 29:11 and 1 Peter 1:2 above?), we are still His enemies.
Why On Earth Would You Say That?
Well, God created everything in the beginning in absolute perfection. He made people in His image, meaning we are like Him in our intellect, ability to feel, reason, and choose.
He didn’t make us robots with a heart button on our shoulder for Him to push every time He wants to hear us say, “I love you, God!” He lets us decide freely whether or not we will say it, how often, and whether we really mean it.
As Majestic Media clearly shows:
The first man and woman decided not to. They chose to directly disobey His one rule to them and to reject Him as King over them.
This separated them from God and the perfect relationship they had with Him in the Garden of Eden. It caused their physical bodies to die, and without God’s intervention, it would mean eternal separation from God as well.
We see from the very beginning that God doesn’t want any of us to live as enemies of Him. He payed every cost so that we could be pardoned and brought back into a relationship with Himself.
He wants us reconciled to Himself, and He promised to make that possible even from his first talk with Adam and Eve after they rejected His ways (Genesis 3:15). The punishment for all the bad things we think, say, and/or do (sin) is eternal separation from God, but He offers a gift to those who will receive it: Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And we all need it, as Romans 3:23 shows
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Don’t Count on Your Good Outweighing Your Bad
Many religions of the world put all the burden on the individual to be good. That whatever end is desirable depends entirely on you. A lot of people get confused and think the Bible is just like that- a moral book that tells you if you do these good things, all will turn out well for you, and you will be at peace.
Not so much.
Isaiah 64:6: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
If we could build our own bridge back to God by fighting against injustice, running a battered women’s shelter, having high integrity, giving all our money to the orphans, or attending religious ceremonies, then in the end, we could boast about what we’d done.
In reality, one sin is enough to separate us from a holy God. One selfish thought, one gossiping word, one prideful act would be enough to make us an enemy of God, whose standard in perfection.
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
Peace at Last, Peace at Last. Thank God Almighty- Peace at Last
Peace is a Person. Hundreds of years before Jesus’s first cries as an infant would echo into history, over 333 promises were made by God about how He would come and what He would do to bring us peace with God, including Isaiah 53 written over 700 years before this would happen:
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Jesus took the penalty for our wrongdoing and rejection of God as King.
It would be like I was guilty of murder and deserved life in prison/the death penalty, but an enemy of mine said, “I’m going to testify that my only son, whom I love dearly, did it. He will take the punishment for you. You go free. Enjoy your life.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
Jesus died and came to life again 3 days later (as promised) to take the punishment for our sin and conquer death. If you’re curious about the resurrection, check out the work of a journalist that made it his life work to prove it was wrong, only to find that undeniable evidence pointed to it’s being historically accurate: The Case for Christ.
True peace comes when we “turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21).We trust Jesus payed our penalty so we can be reconciled to God. We “repent,” which is just a fancy word to say that we were living life for ourselves our own way and we are sorry for all the wrong we’ve done and we want to turn 180 degrees with God’s help and strength so that we can live a life that obeys and honors Him.
Real Peace
Real peace comes from knowing God. Remember 2 Peter 1:2?
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Knowing God- standing in awe of Who He is and what He has done and having a genuine, engaged relationship with Him gives us true peace. It ends our enmity with God, and that peace results in the physical and emotional peace many are looking for today.
Our healed relationship with God brings us eternal safety and security. John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
A Lasting Fix
I know a lot of people that are stuck in a viscous cycle or trying to drown their guilt and regrets in a bottle, numb them for a bit with their next fix, or feel better just a little bit longer with their next relationship or next adventure to conquer. The problem with any fix other than Christ is that-
Other fixes just don’t last.
Jesus offers peace forever.
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)
Experiencing Peace
If you haven’t started a relationship with God that lasts forever by receiving His gift of reconciliation, you can do that today. Repent of your sin and put your trust in Jesus to forgive you and help you live the rest of your life in a relationship with God that honors Him.
Perhaps you already have peace with God in the sense talked about in this blog. Yet, you aren’t experiencing peace in your everyday life.
Already know Him but wondering if you are really experiencing the kind of peace He has designed for you to experience? Check out God Longs To Do This For You.
Want More Like This?
This blog is written so that you can engage deeply in the relationships that matter most, embrace them from a place of wholeness, and delight lavishly in each breath you are given. If you want to read more like this, check out:
- What is the Meaning of Life?
- How My Kids Can Know God for Themselves
- The Most Important Fact About Us
(Last image from here)
Sip Life Slowly and Enjoy It 
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