“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Many today long for peace in this unstable, ever-shifting world. For many, recent years have held an endless run of earthquakes that have shaken them to the core. Pandemic. Politics. Economics. Crime. Culture. Anxiety. Fear. Division. Abuse. Scandal. War. Hatred. Violence… In our hearts, we long for genuine, lasting peace, but it’s hard to find.
Peace is hard to find because we’re usually looking for it in the wrong places! We seek peace in human systems, rules, laws, and solutions. We seek peace in rituals, practices, and self. We seek peace in pills and liquids. None of these can bring true and lasting peace! True peace comes from God, because He’s the Lord of peace. In Hebrew, the word for this peace is “shalom”. The Bible calls Jesus the Prince of Peace. He is the Prince of Shalom and apart from Him we’ll never find the lasting shalom our souls desperately desire.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of professing Christians who aren’t particularly peaceful – either publicly or privately. Why is that??? Peace is an essential element of the Fruit of the Spirit. We experience (and display) the peace of God only as we pursue authentic relationship with Christ, walking in the Holy Spirit. It’s only as we increasingly devote our lives to the worship of God, the understanding and application of the Bible to ourselves first and foremost, communion and communication with Christ, life in community with one another, and the service and proclamation of our Lord and His Kingdom that we are transformed by the Lord of peace to be filled with His peace and to radiate peace in this un-peaceful world.
Scripture promises that as we learn to commit all our concerns, troubles, anxieties, fears, and requests to God in thankful prayer we will be blanketed with and guarded by God’s shalom peace that surpasses all understanding. Pursue this peace and may God give you peace today and every day!