March 2025: The Missing Peace

Peace is something we all seem to be continually searching for. Commercials entice us, promising peace through buying luxurious skin care products or cars with a smooth ride or mattresses that provide a perfect night’s sleep. Many of us dream of a relaxing vacation on the beach or a day at the spa or just time off work to find some rest and relaxation. Our souls long for peace. It’s nice when we are able to catch a bit of it here and there. But peace is fleeting—all too soon, reality comes along and messes everything up!

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Often the troubles of this world keep us from feeling like we could ever experience true peace. There is just too much heartache and pain. But Jesus promises a special kind of peace for us.

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In John 14:27 He tells his disciples, “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.” 

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Jesus speaks of a peace that is different than anything the world has to offer—better than any kind of peace we have ever experienced before. When Jesus spoke the words in that passage, He knew He was about to sacrifice His very life, and that that sacrifice would restore the relationship between God and His people, which would bring about true, lasting, and eternal peace. 

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Thanks to His sacrifice, we can come before our Lord and Creator and lean on Him when we are hurting. Even though pain is very real in this fallen world, through Christ we can have an underlying sense of assurance that God is holding us and caring for us. We know He is right there with us, guiding us and strengthening us. 

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Peace is not necessarily the absence of trouble. This world is full of trouble. But when we seek God, we can have an untroubled heart, even in the midst of a troubled world. 

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The great theologian St. Augustine says it beautifully: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

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When we find our rest in Christ, our hearts are not confined to yearning for happiness solely in this present life. We keep our immortality in mind, knowing that a day is coming when we will rest in perfect peace for all eternity.