Peace

 

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to meet some special people who just exude peace.  They are also joyful and loving and otherwise filled with the Spirit. They make you feel good when you see them and you look forward to the next time you can get together with them. When I am with them, I greatly desire to be like them.

 

As believers, we should expect that God’s desire is that we become that same type of people. Paul writes to the Galatians, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).  I used to think that they were the fruits of the Spirit and that I might receive one or another, similar to spiritual gifts. However, it is the fruit of the Spirit that we receive, which means that the Spirit provides each of us with love, joy, peace, and all the rest.

 

If God wants to fill us with His Spirit of peace, why don’t many Christians feel very peaceful much of the time? Obviously, we will not have perfect peace until we get to heaven, but we can probably be more peaceful than we are. We start by remembering that peace comes from God and that God’s peace is not like the world’s peace.  Jesus tells us, “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” (Jn 14:27).

 

When I am on a plane, I am at peace knowing that the pilot is in control and that he or she knows what they are doing.  I would be more than a little anxious if I had to fly the plane myself! Many of us get this backwards spiritually. We think that we will be more peaceful if we are in control of our lives rather than let God be in control. We need to “let go and let God”, to allow Him to direct us in the best way, if we want to have His peace.

 

We will talk more in the next week about the things that rob us of our peace. In the meantime, let’s begin by committing ourselves to wanting more of God’s peace in our everyday lives and asking Him to show us the ways that we lose our peace.