Have You Seen it Anywhere?

John 14: 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you

The driver at the intersection begins to move when the guy with the cigarette steps into the path of the car and slowly strolls across the road. The driver steps hard on the brakes to avoid hitting him and the man looks at him hard and says: “Hey #*@# bwoy! Watch weh yu a go!” Rage boils up inside the driver.

The two groups of people sit in the courthouse. Although they are looking at each other with so much hate, they are relatives – one family. At least they were until the old man died and they started to fight over the land.

The battered wife sits in the vestry talking with the pastor. Her eyes are red and her face is swollen. “Pastor, you need to come talk to him, for if him lick me one more time…”

All around there is turmoil. Crime and violence in the news, higglers quarreling in the market, MPs cussing in parliament, footballers fighting on the field, board members having it out in church; it seems there is no peace anywhere. Yet, Christ’s parting gift to us just before He returned to Heaven was peace: “Peace I leave with you”. He left it with us, so where is it? Have you seen it anywhere? We need to find it.

We provide more counselors, create mediation groups, improve the police force and the courts but there seems to be more conflict every day. Maybe we need to look at Jesus’ legacy again. He didn’t just leave peace, He said “I give you My peace”. Jesus’ peace was a peace that lived inside of Him. It came because He was at peace with His Father. When you are at peace with God, then the pieces just seem to fall into place. He was also at peace because He had chosen to love everybody, no matter what happens. This love stopped Him from holding resentment in His heart against anybody. That was the secret of His peace.

When we become Christians, followers of Christ, we also take on the lifestyle and the peace of Christ. So have you seen peace any where? Yes. It is in the lives of those who are true followers of Jesus.

Dear Lord, teach me how to trust the Father and to love others as You did, so that I can receive the peace that You give to me, in Jesus’ name, amen.