Amanda BethSharing the Truths Behind the TRUTH

May 9th Monday’s Guest Blog: Steve Sawyer

For the next seven weeks I will be posting guest blogs for my Monday blogs. I’ll be starting a new series June 27th on the “Armor Of God.” Thanks to guest blogger “Boe Parrish” for recommending the series!

Today’s guest blog is by Steve Sawyer. He’s a great friend and fellow blogger. I know you’ll be blessed!

The Peace Jesus Brings

Every Miss America hopeful since the contest began tells the world her goal in life is to see world peace.  That phrase is an oxymoron, like congressional ethics, or freezer burn. The two are mutually exclusive.

Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.

The key phrase in that verse is: “in me.”  Real, abiding peace is in Jesus Christ alone.

Peace is one of the most desirable feelings, yet one of the most illusive today in our culture.

The world calls peace a weekend away from the kids, or a vacation on the beach, or a holiday from work. The world’s peace is temporary, and as soon as it arrives it’s gone.  As soon as the world gets to a point when it can catch its breath, something or someone comes along to jerk the world back into reality and chaos, where peace escapes again.

On the contrary Jesus teaches us that lasting peace is in Him.  In several other passages of Scripture He encourages us how to enjoy peace in Him. When Jesus came into the midst of His disciples in the Upper Room after His resurrection He didn’t say, “Okay, let’s go for it. Everything’s working. This is our time.” Instead Jesus said, “Peace be with you.”  The important thing to Jesus seemed to be to assure His disciples that they had nothing to worry about and they could take comfort in His presence.

For those disciples (and for us today) we can know that in the peace of Jesus we can enjoy a freedom beyond our anxiety, a confidence beyond our circumstances, and an assurance beyond our questions.

When storms rock our world we can choose to either have the peace of Jesus in and through our circumstances, or we can choose to be in bondage to our circumstances and fail to find the path to Jesus or His peace.

To have and to maintain the peace of God that passes all understanding we need to understand sacrifice is a way of life — Those who are true followers of Christ must lay down our lives in service to others and others must become more important than us.

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” John 16:33.  The cross is a point of reference in our tribulations.  We can rejoice in Jesus’ sacrifice.

We need to understand true love — We can experience God’s love, from which flows His peace, when we accept our true identity in Christ. Only then can we understand that God loves us no matter where we came from or what we did or who we are. The love of Christ is eternal and, once we become children of God and enter His Kingdom, nothing we do or don’t do can ever change that. The love of Christ will always be available to us, and, as Scripture teaches Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.

Paul teaches us in Romans:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39.

If we believe that, we will know the peace that Jesus brings.

Steve writes about sometimes thoughtful, sometimes humorous, always family friendly people places and things on his blog: www.stevensawyer.wordpress.com. He has been a professional writer, English and Creative Writing teacher for more than 25 years. He lives with his family in the Atlanta area.

You can also follow Steve on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/writersawyer
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/steve.sawyer
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/stevesaw

Note: Thank you Steve for sharing your blog. Great message on Jesus’ peace!