John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let you heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
The peace Jesus is speaking of is given by God. It isn’t a peace that you will find in the world, He makes that clear. It’s a different sort of peace. In the world, peace might be defined as an “absence of turmoil or trouble in your life.” But God’s peace is an “absence of worry in your heart amid the turmoil or trouble in your life.” See the difference? Jesus forewarned us that “…in this world we will have trouble or tribulation.” That’s a fact so we might as well accept it. But He followed that up with “…take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). If Christ has overcome the world then we need not be concerned about the tribulation we will experience while in the world. You won’t find permanent peace in this world or it’s offerings. It is only in the eternal Son of God that you can have a permanent and eternal peace. It is a peace that surpasses all understanding or comprehension (Philippians 4:7).
His peace will also keep or guard your heart from fear. God hasn’t given His children “…a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). There is no reason for you to worry or fret when you are in the hands of the “creator of the universe!” In a prophetic announcement concerning Jesus, Isaiah proclaimed Him as the “Prince of Peace.” Paul declared that this “peace” would “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Another reality of Christ’s peace is that it will “rule” or “umpire” your heart (Colossians 3:15). An umpire is an “unbiased” third party to a sporting contest between two teams. In the same way an umpire enforces the “rules of the game” in baseball, we need to allow the “peace of Christ” to umpire and enforce the “rule and reign” of God’s Word and what it says about how we should react during turmoil. Let His peace rule, reign and umpire our heart, not the flesh or the natural ways of the world.
Remember, Christ’s peace isn’t the absence of trouble, but it is the absence of trouble in your heart. “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Are you allowing Christ’s peace to rule your heart? What trouble are you facing today that God is saying “don’t be troubled in your heart because I have overcome the world?”
Keith
