This morning a friend sent me an email about a Bible verse on peace and yesterday there was a meme quoting John 14:27--a well known verse on peace--from a fb friend in my feed.
Maybe I am more aware of "peace" as a topic because for the last two weeks I was working on writing a devotional about peace from Jesus's words in John 14:27. I turned in the completed devotional on Saturday. In the evening during a zoom Bible study I was asked to read John 16:33 for part of the study. It is also a key verse on peace which I wrote about in the devotional.
Saturday night I found myself wondering if God might be trying to prepare me for something! In my experience going down that mental path does not lead to peace. So I reigned in those thoughts and made myself think about something else.
This morning when I got the email about peace I simply felt thankful for the "peace that passes understanding" and chose to think about God's goodness in wanting me to have peace despite the trouble in the country that I keep reading about in the news.
I also decided that if I need that message so much maybe my blog readers would find it helpful if I post the devotional I wrote on peace. So, without further ado, here it is:
Peace
"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 (NIV)
The context of this familiar verse is the night of the crucifixion.* Jesus and the disciples have just finished their last Passover meal together. He is in the middle of telling them many important things to prepare them for what is ahead.
Just before this verse he assured them that the Holy Spirit whom the Father would send will, ”teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (14:26)
It’s like he is saying, I know I am throwing a lot at you right now and I know you might be starting to feel kind of anxious but don’t worry, the Holy Spirit will remind you later what I said. The main thing I want you to do right now is trust me even if things around you start to look bad. Everything really will be OK. Just trust me.
He said in verse 27, “My peace I give you.” It was His peace. The same peace that let him sleep in a small boat on a stormy sea. The peace that let him walk on water even when the wind and waves caused the disciples to fear and Peter to sink. It was the peace that he spoke to the wind and waves and they obeyed Him and became calm.* And then later in the evening at the point of his biggest test, it was the peace that let him say “not my will but your will be done” before going to the cross.
“My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”
Jesus gave them His peace. It was a gift. He gave it because he loved them. And because he knew they would need it. He wanted to give to them everything of himself that they would need to help them with what lay ahead.
It wasn’t because they merited it by their stunning performance. That is how the world “gives”--If the world likes us because we perform to their, ever changing, standards then they give us their kind of peace, at least temporarily.
The world’s kind of peace is also all about what is here and now. Google defined peace as, “Freedom from disturbance; tranquility. A state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended.” The world’s idea of peace is that there are no troubles and everything around is tranquil and going the way we want.
Jesus had a different way of thinking. In John 16:33b he said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” I have sometimes struggled with that verse. My thinking tends to be along the lines of, “Well how does that help me right now? At this moment I am stuck in this trouble and I don’t want to be so please make it stop. Amen.” Like the disciples, I keep hoping that Jesus will hurry up and set up his kingdom on this earth and end all of my suffering. We humans don’t like to wait. At least I don’t. Especially not when I am suffering. That’s normal. It’s human nature.
But he was giving them a different kind of peace. He wanted them and us to have peace even in the midst of disturbances and trouble. It’s the kind of peace that doesn’t make sense to the world. It is peace that, “passes all understanding.” (Phil. 4:7)
The rest of John 14:27 says “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Jesus was telling them they had a choice. They could prevent themselves from becoming disquieted and fearful about the future.
In John 16:33 (the whole verse) Jesus said “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Their peace, and ours, comes from faith in what he has said. That is what having peace “in him” is about. Trusting that even though things look bad now, he is working in and through these troubles and in the end, we will have joy and peace. In John 16:22 he assured them, “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”
To have His kind of peace we have to choose to believe what Jesus said and keep thinking about it. Whatever is happening in the world around us we need to “fix our thoughts” on his promises to have “perfect peace” like Isaiah 26:3 talks about. (NLT)
Being aware of what is happening in the world may be necessary sometimes. But constantly thinking about it won’t help us have peace! Like Peter if we spend too long looking at the wind and the waves, we will sink but if we keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus we can “walk on the water” with him.
Notes:
*To see the whole context read John 13:31-16:33.
**To read these stories about Jesus:
sleeping in the boat and calming the wind and waves--Mark 4:35-41 (in the King James Version he used the words "Peace be still"); also see Matthew 8:24-27; Luke 8:23-25
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