TOPIC:‌“There's a Christian Way to Find Peace”

‌          by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌John 14:27-31

 

‌‌“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give

I unto you. Let your heart not be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

 

‌We are living in a time of terrible tension and turmoil. The people of the world are full of anxiety, troubled, lonely and restless. In the midst of such a situation, peace is man's most cherished possession. But the fact remains that there are many people who have never enjoyed the blessing of peace. As the Apostle Paul wrote: “And the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:17, 18). The prophet Isaiah describes them this way: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God” (Isaiah 57:20, 21).

 

‌In coming to grips with the subject of peace, let us acquaint ourselves with what the Bible has to say about the Christian way to peace.

 

I.

 

‌To begin with, consider the PURSUIT of peace. The Psalmist David declared: “seek peace, and pursue it” (Psalms 34:14). Paul the Apostle speaks of the same thing when he wrote to the Romans: “Let us, therefore, follow after the things which make for peace” (Romans 14:19).

 

‌Peace is a priceless possession that every individual upon this earth desires to experience. They are seeking an inner calm from the fears and frustrations of life. They are searching for an inner peace from the stress and strain of modern day living. The tragic truth is so many never find it. George Bernard Shaw was right, when describing people of this generation, said: “They should have written on their tombstones, “Died at thirty, buried at sixty.” It goes without saying, to have found peace from a troubled and guilty soul is the greatest of discoveries. If you desire to set your soul in quest of God's perfect peace, amidst the disturbances of life, I challenge you to seek it and search for it not in a place, but in a Person - Jesus Christ. He alone is the Divine Peace-Giver.

‌Did not Christ say to the people of His day: “Come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28, 29). Think of it: Christ will give rest in the midst of restlessness. Christ will give peace in the midst of turmoil. And such peace is available to every person and adequate to meet . . .