The Peace of Christ

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Scripture: John 14:26-27 (ESV)

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Devotion:

            These words of Jesus to his disciples in the upper room on the night He was betrayed convey a divine approach to peace. Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to Him, did not pray for strength, courage, or any other response that we might consider more appropriate, humanly speaking. When we humans face inevitable persecution and execution, our natural response would not be peace. Yet, Jesus exemplified peace under these conditions. How did He behave in this way?

            First, Jesus had certain advantages that the disciples did not yet have. Jesus had the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His first disciples had yet to receive this baptism in the Spirit. Also, Jesus was fully human and even prayed in the Garden later that night for the cup of His suffering to be avoided if at all possible.

            Even though this prayer of Jesus was addressed to His first disciples, we can still take comfort in these words and appropriate them for ourselves. It is a fact that the Holy Spirit and the gift of peace He brings are in short supply in today’s world. Our modern culture seems to thrive on controversy and disagreement. We take great pride in shutting out people whose opinions differ from ours. We talk of the culture war and fight for our side loudly and stridently. We think we must win the battle but fail to count the cost both to ourselves and our “opponents.”

            In this scripture, Jesus calls us to the opposite of war. He promises those who follow Him a share in the divine peace that He enjoyed. Nothing is as precious as living at peace with our fellow travelers on this earthly journey. We must stand up and defend Christ and His detractors in our modern society. However, we must do so from a place of peace, not a place of war. Our goal must be persuasion, not coercion. We do well to remember the old saying, “he who is convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.”

            So, we have taken a journey by using these devotionals this week. We have traveled from the controversy over funerals at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to following Jesus in the way of peace with all people. Hopefully, we have learned that being on the “right’ side of an argument should not be our only goal in life. God grants different people different gifts, but each is precious in His sight. Let us pray that we may walk in the way of peace that Jesus speaks about in today’s scripture, caring about each precious soul we meet.

Prayer:

            Lord, help us to seek to walk in the way of peace. May we receive in our lives the peace that Jesus speaks about in these verses. Help us to strive to be peacemakers in the world; lead us forward to walk in the ways of peace that all may see, and know that the way of Jesus is truly the way of peace. Amen.

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