THE PEACE OF CHRIST GIVEN TO YOU

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid . . . These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace . . . Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ" (John 14:27,33; Rom 1:7)

Devotion 2 of 12

RELATED DIRECTLY TO JESUS CHRIST

The experience of peace is not a merely psychological. While our psyche may be involved, it is not the primary involvement. There is no earthly procedure that can produce the peace of which we speak. No counseling technique, however skillful, can produce it. There may be subordinate value in some of these things, but it will not be lasting, nor will it bring true satisfaction to the soul. True peace is something that is given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Our Lord's words are arresting. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). What a marvelous thing! When Jesus "dwelt among us," He had peace. Neither the shrewdness of the Pharisees nor the brazenness of Pilate could shake Him. He maintained a spiritual composure that challenges our thinking. Yet, when He went back to heaven, He did not remove this peace from the earth. Instead, He left it with His people. In a deliberate and objective act He said, "My peace I give unto you!"

His disciples did not grasp the significance of this saying immediately, nor was their experience of it instantaneous. They had some unsettling periods during the days that followed this utterance of that truth.

Jesus was describing the character of new life in Him. People were going to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4). They would experientially enjoy Divine qualities. They would not be equal with God, but they would enjoy fellowship with Him, and become "partakers of Christ" (Heb 3:14).

Just as Jesus is the personification of the Word, He is also the incarnation of peace. Peace is immediately related to His Person. It is not primarily an academic consideration, but the experience of Jesus Himself. "For He IS our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us [Jew and Gentile]" (Ephesians 2:14). This is another way of saying He has wrought what was necessary to provide a basis for peace. This peace is threefold: (1. Peace with God, (2 Peace with other believers, and (3 Peace within our hearts. These are all related, and cannot stand independently of one another.

Inner peace flows from a persuasion that we who were "afar off" have now been reconciled to God. This is a truth proclaimed by the Lord Jesus Himself. "And (He) came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh" (Ephesians 2:17). He is now speaking "from heaven" (Heb. 12:25), and is to be heeded by every one.

PRAYER POINT: Father, I praise You through Jesus Christ for providing what men crave, yet cannot achieve on their own.

-- TOMORROW: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "RUN?" --