Peace is a person and his name is Jesus

I remember a time when I was tossed about with the winds of change and felt fear deep within my soul. A time when my source of security was in my family, my relationships and my belongings. That was a long time ago and then I met someone who showed me another way. I had realized that these things I had thought were secure can be taken away in a moment and are a shaky foundation to build my life upon. At first this realization brought more fear until I recognized the person with me was Jesus. He wasn’t shaken. He wasn’t angry. He didn’t look troubled. Instead he gazed at me with eyes of love that calmed my inner being. As I gazed back at Jesus the things around me started to fade away. It seemed that their importance was lessened as I rested in knowing Jesus, the one my soul desired more than anything else.

How did I meet Jesus? Well I was 7 years old and I met Jesus through a children’s book. Others meet Jesus by being introduced by someone who already knows Jesus. Some search for Jesus in the pages of scripture. Yet others hear his voice calling and identify the voice as Jesus. When I met Jesus things changed in my life. My dreadful nightmares went way. I no longer feared dying during the night. Something shifted in my inner core that settled my existential questions and removed the fear of loss I dreaded and replaced the uncertainty of the future with a hope of eternity that was assured. I want to introduce you to this same Jesus who calmed my fears.

Jesus said some words that were recorded by his faithful followers. “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). How did Jesus leave his peace with the disciples who remembered and treasured those words? He left that peace by leaving his Spirit within the ones who chose to follow Jesus’ way. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father and he will give another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).

This didn’t mean that life was easy for the disciples, nor will our life be easy. The disciples and countless followers were beaten, thrown in prison, tortured and martyred and yet they kept that peace. Paul one of the apostles who met Jesus following his resurrection even wrote from prison that he was glad for being in chains for Christ as it meant the prison guards got to hear about and be introduced to Jesus (Philippians 1:13). This is the peace that surrounds me even though the world is experiencing chaos.

So do you want to meet this Jesus? He promises to leave his Holy Spirit to dwell within anyone who chooses to follow him. This Jesus is found in the pages of the Bible and is sometimes called the Prince of Peace. You can read about his life and words from the accounts by his followers. I suggest you choose one gospel and start reading. Imagine what the disciples were going through and as you read the words- ask Jesus to speak to you through those words that were recorded. I did that as a little girl. I read and read the gospel accounts over and over. I imagined the life that Jesus had on earth. He wasn’t hurried or stressed when problems arose. Jesus slept in the storm and then calmed it when the disciples couldn’t. Jesus dealt with people who needed healing and deliverance by lovingly ministering healing and wholeness then promised the disciples, they would do the same things he did. By immersing myself in the words of Jesus I too hear his voice calling over the waves and wind- "Peace be still."

In this current crisis when our whole world is being shaken by threat-COVID-19 that we can’t see but can catch by touching a surface or inhaling a droplet- there is an invisible world that cannot be shaken. It is God’s kingdom that is founded on Jesus. Jesus once shared a parable at the end of a famous sermon. I will share it with you as it is a good question to ponder. What is the foundation that you have built your life upon? It is one reason I decided as a little girl to open the door to Jesus coming into my life. I decided that my security was on a rock and his name is Jesus.

Matthew 7: 24-27 ESV

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.”

Today Jesus is waiting at the door of your life. You can choose to open to his knocking or choose to ignore it. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me” (Rev 3:20). There is a friend who can come to your door and be invited in during this time of self-isolation or quarantine. He does not bring threat of illness but brings peace within. Welcome him into your life today. Learn from his unhurried ways of peace and his unforced rhythms of grace.