Perfect Peace

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1

How often do you find yourself uttering or thinking the words, I just need a minute?

Recently, a dear woman and sister-in-Christ from my local church blessed a group of us moms with a devotional surrounding the topic of God’s peace. Peace had already been on my mind, as usual, as I seem to struggle with grasping the peace of the Lord through hectic days and the chaotic schedule that comes with rearing children. This time of the year seems to enhance the chaos that appears unrelenting in my mind.

I just need a minute, are words that I find myself echoing multiple times a day. What am I really yearning for? Peace.

Peace from what? Peace from noise, chaos, overstimulation in my mind, ever-changing schedules that appear disorderly and out of control, the mundane of the day—laundry, cooking, dishes, sweeping, schedule planning, homeschooling, taxi-driving—repeat.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I am blessed beyond what I could have ever fathomed for my life.

But.

I have an unrelenting craving for peace and order.

This craving will never be fully satiated in this life of flesh.

I know this. Yet, I still strive and yearn for something eternal that always seems just beyond reach. So, then I find myself pacifying my persistent longing for peace for a counterfeit tranquility that may involve retail therapy, reading a non-edifying book, filling my schedule with non-essentials that prove to be avoiding the hard things on my to do lists.

This calms my cravings for “peace” for a moment or two, but then inevitably the fake calm and the pretend peace prove vaporous as it disappears and the internal cries of “needing a minute,” return with vengeance.

If I’m deeply honest, it’s not a minute that I need.

It’s not a long moment of silence that I need.

It’s not a day absent from household chores or parental and adult responsibilities that I need.

It’s not merely peace that my soul truly longs for.

It’s Jesus.

I need Him, Who gives Peace and gives it in abundance.

I need the One Who is Peace.

I don’t want a mockup version of the worlds peace. I want the peace of the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.

I want the perfect peace that can never be found in my spouse, children, career, accomplishments, accolades, awards, fashion, worldly knowledge, financial security, a nice home, a comfortable life… these things are not inherently wrong, but it is not where or what the Believer’s peace, or lack-there-of, should be found or rooted in. It’s through Christ alone, through our gift of faith and repentance in Him, and the security of our sealed salvation through Christ’s atoning work at the Cross. This is where our ultimate peace should be knitted to, from now into eternity. The perfect peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

I refuse to settle for imitations.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Roman Church, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1, ESV).

Being justified means we now have a right standing with God. We’ve done nothing to earn or guarantee this. It’s not from our own doing, but a gift of revelation from the Lord. My faith is from Him. And because He’s chosen to gift me with faith in His Son, Jesus, I am now at peace with God the Father. And because I am now at peace with God the Father, I now have an eternal peace about all things.

This eternal peace about all things is an objective peace, because I belong to the Lord. My emotions on any given day may not align with this objective and true peace from the Lord, but that doesn’t make it any less true. He gives us this peace that is faultless, pure, and perfect, because He chose to and it glorifies His name, not mine.

Jesus tells us in John 14:27, “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.”

As a true Believer in Jesus Christ, peace is not something we have to strive for. Peace is not something we have to obtain by perfect work and a model sanctification journey. Peace is not something that is re-produced in our life when circumstances are savory and happy. Peace is not something we earn by any effort of our own doing. Jesus gave it to us. He left us this perfect peace through His Holy Spirit that indwells the heart of every Believer.

As I’m writing this, I have a deep conviction stirring in my heart. I get this wrong so much. I confuse God’s gift of Peace—His promise to never leave us or forsake us, essentially the gift of Himself is the only peace we will ever need—with the world’s version of peace that is a life free from trouble.

Our peace is not derived from a trouble-free life. Does that type of life even exist in this sin-filled world? Our peace is from Jesus, and in Jesus.

Jesus tells us in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

“In me you may have peace…”

My current conviction surrounds defining this season as chaotic, rather than marinating my thoughts on the gift of this season—Divine prophecy being fulfilled as my magnificent Savior was born.

Isaiah prophesied of this, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6 ESV).

My Savior is the Prince of Peace. He is Perfect Peace.

Lord, I pray for each one reading this—Keep our hearts close to You. Remind us of the truth of Your Perfect Peace daily, as we celebrate the birth of Your Son whom You sent as Savior for all whom You called before the foundations of the earth were set.

I Trust my God, I Trust my God, I Trust my God

Ardently His,

Jess Dennis