Seek Peace

"Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it."

Psalm 34:11-14

In 1969, John Lennon famously sang the lyrics, "Give peace a chance."  Peace in the Middle East has been pursued by U.S. Presidents for decades.  The Nobel Prize for Peace has been awarded annually since 1901.  We all want peace.

But is this kind of peace possible? Peace between nations and people groups? Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."  (Matthew 10:34)  When it comes to Jesus, each person must choose to believe Him or not.  There is no fence sitting.  There is no compromise.  There is no peace.

So what kind of peace are we to seek and pursue, then, and from where does this come?

God

I have heard it said that none of my horizontal relationships will work if my vertical relationship is not right.  Philippians 4:7 gives me a glimpse into the source of peace that I can experience in my heart when I trust God with everything that is going on in my life:  all the troubles, all the people I love, all those I butt heads with, all my unfulfilled desires and expectations.  

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

The stress, anxiety, worries, and difficulties of my life wear me down, putting such pressure on me that it can't help but to bubble over, affecting those around me.  Thus, I am short fused.  I take little time to listen.  I have a hard time focusing on anyone else but me and my problems.  The turmoil within causes turmoil without.  And viola. . . there is no peace!

If instead I released all the stress, anxiety, worries and difficulties of my life over to God, allowing Him to carry it for me and trusting Him to solve my problems and provide the answers, I will experience a peace that I can't understand.  Tranquility will calm my soul and those around me will benefit from this miracle!

To experience real peace in this world I must seek peace with God that comes with trusting Him fully.

Jesus

Jesus is called a stumbling stone; not exactly the term you'd expect from the Prince of Peace!  If He came to bring peace, you'd expect that He would accept everyone into His Kingdom, no matter what their beliefs or which path they took.  That is the human idea of peace, anyway.

But God has another plan.  Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  (John 14:6)  This is hardly the message of one who compromises or negotiates peace.  

If I will believe that He is the only way I can be reconciled to the Father, then I will receive the peace with which He left His followers.  If I give my life to Him, I will still have troubles, but I can rest in the knowledge that Jesus is greater than any difficulty I can face. If I call Jesus Lord of my life, the Prince of Peace will rule my heart.

The peace that Jesus promises is a peace that dwells within my heart.  Once I have a peace within, then this peace will spill over into my relationships.  James 4:1-3 gives a glimpse into the root of discord.

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?  You want something but don't get it.  You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want.  You quarrel and fight.  You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

When I am lord of my life, I look out for my own best interest, protecting my reputation and rights.  But when Jesus is Lord of my life, I gain His perspective and loving others becomes more important than being right.  Letting God have His way rises above my wishes.  Wanting God's will is paramount, above and beyond the plans I have made for my life.

Giving Jesus Lordship in my life results in a peace within myself that comes from Him.  

Holy Spirit

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?  This is always an interesting quandary to debate, but it reminds me of the fruit of the Spirit.  Which comes first, the fruit or submission to God's Spirit?  In other words, do I read about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control being fruits that I, as a Christian, should be producing and then pursue these fruits?  Or do these fruits show up once I submit myself to God's Spirit?  

I have tried to be patient my whole life.  I have tried all the tricks in the book: focusing on the solution, not the problem,  remembering Who is in control, putting the problem in perspective, etc.  These are all good pieces of advice, but it will not serve to produce true patience in my life.  Patience is from God's Spirit and until I can get my own flesh out of the way, it will not have room to grow in my life.  So the key to producing fruit is for me to work on giving more and more of myself over to God, casting that area of my flesh upon the cross so that His Spirit can rule. 

It's kind of like planting a garden.  In order for my roses to bloom, I must prune back the old growth each year, cutting off many branches that seem okay, but are just getting in the way.  Once I do that, all sorts of new growth sprouts up.

Pruning is a continual process as I give up more of myself and make more room for God's Spirit to blossom.

Peace in the world is not possible this side of heaven, but peace within my heart will spill over to peace in my relationships.  The source of this kind of peace is in trusting God, giving Jesus Lordship, and making way for God's Spirit to produce His fruit.  

The way for me to give peace a chance is to give God a chance.

As I begin this day it is my prayer that peace will rule in my heart.

How do I try to seek peace with others but leave God out of it?

When do I experience the most discord in my relationships?  How can I surrender that to Jesus?