From the Pulpit: Durable peace
What is peace to you? Is peace a feeling of tranquility or serenity? Like the feeling that you may experience as you are out in the stillness of nature or the feeling that you may get when you are doing something that you love.
Or maybe peace is the sense you get when things in your life or in our world are stable. You aren’t worried about your job, your finances, or your family. You aren’t worried about divisiveness or wars.
Whichever angle that you take as you look at peace… you want it. Nobody wishes for chaos in their life, they want stability and tranquility, they want peace.
However, peace that is tied to certain realities or outcomes or feelings in this world will never last. Life changes quickly. The world changes quickly. The peace that comes from this world is fleeting at best. The moment that you spend in the stillness of nature is quickly followed by moments of hurry and worry. The times when you have almost perfect stability in your life are short (if that ever really happens) and the times of stability in our world are pretty much zero.
But, Jesus, who has assumed his position of power and authority at the right hand of the Father, offers a different kind of peace… a durable peace. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
Have you ever heard of a peace that actually guards you? That’s what God’s peace does. His peace is not rooted in the daily happenings of our world or our feelings. His peace is rooted in what Jesus accomplished for us – he saved us! Through Jesus’ perfect life, his innocent death, and his resurrection – an unchangeable fact – you have peace with God. Nobody can un-crucify Christ. Nobody can put him back in that tomb. What he has done has put you at peace with God.
That’s why it is durable peace. No matter what happens in your life or in this world, that peace is yours in Christ. So, it guards you. It keeps you. Let that be the peace that you rest in for this election season and for the days, months, and years to come.
