Peace & quiet, Peace & love, Peace & security, and Peace & harmony are all sayings we correlate as “completing” each other and/or going “hand & hand”.  To explain, we can agree on the surface that Peace without quiet is not peaceful, it is noisy.  Peace without love is empty or lonely. Peace without security is stressful with worry and lastly, Peace without harmony is disruptive and chaotic. 

When Jesus promised to give us His Peace in John 14:27, He did not attach another word to qualify it.  Thus, we can surmise that His Spiritual Peace does not rely on our surroundings, circumstances, or possessions.

It is my goal to share with my readers in this post how I discovered His Peace & the peace. The capitalization of Peace is intentional along with using a lower case on the qualifier. To clarify, “Peace” is Christ while “peace” is:  fill in your blank.

Over the past several years, I personally received a Biblical, eye-opening principle on Peace. Specifically, I used to think that if I had Christ’s Peace, I would feel a “complete” sense of peace.  Logically, I believed that if I had the Holy Spirit, in my court, then, I would have Peace while in the mist of storms. Yet, both His Peace & my circumstance-based peace felt more like having a seat on a roller coaster ride.  Even though I was on the incline of the Sky Rush (for Hershey Park fans 😊), I would feel my soul relax. It was during this time that my spiritual habits of quiet time/Bible study, prayer, or listening to uplifting Praise and Worship music would connect me to His Peace. Then, the ride of life would crest over the top, and I would find myself plummeting towards the ground while screaming out of control and wanting the chaotic stress to be over.  Then, the next hill came into view and up I went again only to continue the cycle.

I pondered, “Where was my peace?  Why was I up and down? Did I lose it?”  No, I did not. In the mist of my ongoing trials, Christ’s Peace was a gift when my circumstances were far from peaceful. This is why He says, “My Peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives . . .”   It is His Peace that keeps us on the ride, in our seats, and attached to the track.  Anyone can feel “peace” when everything is going well.  But the Peace that gets us through the gut-wrenching storms of life with our head still on our shoulders is the Peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). I endured (and will continue to endure) the dips of life because He lifts me back up towards Him.

Ultimately, being in a relationship with a partner who loves you does fill your heart with peace.  Next, it is undoubtedly easy to feel peace when you live in harmony with neighbors who are kind and thoughtful.  Also, the simplistic peace and tranquility one finds in the woods on a nice Fall hike is priceless.  Finally, living in a safe area or having a home equipped with alarms or a Ring/camera doorbell will help anyone sleep more serenely at night.   Yet, realistically, these things are temporary. Thus, the Bible contains 40-50 verses about His Peace.  Understanding what God says about Peace is the key to true contentment in spite of the ups and downs.

**Remember, God wants us to have both His Peace & the peace that ensues from pleasant conditions.  His Peace through His Son + the peace of quiet, love, security, and harmony can even make the Fahrenheit (another thrilling rollercoaster) cool enough to handle 😉!

Song:

We The Kingdom - Peace (Live At Ocean Way Nashville) (youtube.com)