When we believe on Him, His peace is in us. Did you catch that? His peace is in you. We do not have to pay a price to attain peace. Christ did that. We have Christ’s peace! So why do we sometimes feel like our peace is missing?
Do you ever feel that? Are you standing there in your personal struggle wondering where the “promised peace” is? This is hard. For one, it is hard to feel this feeling of loss and wonderment. And two, it is hard to admit that you are struggling with feeling the absence of peace.
May I offer an honest checklist evaluation regarding your peace?
- Have you confessed your sin of unbelief to God the Father and asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior? Y/N
- Have you been forgiven of your sins through the blood Jesus Christ? Y/N
- Have you been freed by Jesus from sin, guilt and/or shame? Y/N
- Do you like to curl up under your favorite familiar blanket? Y/N
- Do you think that last question makes me sound as if I lost my mind? Y/N
If you answered YES to all of those questions, then you are sure of your salvation through Jesus Christ. Which means His peace is in you.
Now answer my next question.
- What blanket do you often choose?
I can see it now. Some of you are sold that I have become verifiably insane. Some are excited that I finally embraced the love of Home Economics. Meanwhile, others of you are looking at me with that look that says, “I think I know where you are going and I already know I don’t like it.”
Let me tell you some of my go-to blankets:
- Past shame
- Past guilt
- Childhood heartache
- Death of a parent
- Family rejection
- Man-made religious expectations
- Self-inflicted expectations
- Personal sin
- Selfishness
- Broken coffee maker
- Exhaustion
- Fatigue
- Financial confusion
- Medical confusion
- Miscarriages
- Self-image expectations
- Health issues
- PMS
Just to name a few.
Some of my blankets have been shredded and burned. Some have been carefully folded and stored away for later. Some of them lay across the foot of my bed for nightfall. And some are clenched in my hand dragging beside me wherever I go. Regardless of where these blankets are, they each represent a picture of my life. They are stifling, they are suffocating, they are binding, and they are heavy. Yet, these blankets are comfortable, they are familiar, and they are what I know. When they are used, they are the reason my peace is absent.
Praise be to God that this is not the end.
For there was an earthquake, and in that earthquake each and every one of my blankets were cast into the crest of the earth, buried, and carried far away from the eyes of my Heavenly Father.
There was an earthquake that shook the very presence of my earthly existence and replaced it with a quilt stitched together with the fabrics of the torn veil and with the robe of my Savior. This quilt doesn’t cover my other blankets. It replaces each and every one so perfectly, leaving no need for any other. This blanket is called peace.
***Excerpt from The Beautiful Reward; pages 283-286
***Matthew 28
*” 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.” -John 16:33
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