Prince of Peace

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

The Bible is full of verses about peace, about not worrying about tomorrow, and trusting God with our lives.  I’ve been going through the book of John, and the verse above really stuck out to me.  I’ve heard it all before…

Philippians 4:6-7  “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hears and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Matthew 6:27, 34  “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life…Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day had enough trouble of its own.”

Colossians 3:15  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace...”

…but hearing it and reading it, are not the same as actually believing it.

Worry is something I struggle with at times.  I worry about what kinds of grades I’m going to get on a test, I worry about what other people think of me, I worry about what my future holds.  This week in particular something I’ve been worrying about is, if I can’t learn from my mistakes then what kind of person am I?  I lost my watch earlier this week (this wasn’t entirely my fault-the band was broken but was working for the time being.)  Anyway, it got caught on my backpack and the next thing I knew, it was gone.  I totally forgot about a meeting with my academic advisor.  I lost my student ID card on Friday.  I can’t find my little address book.  I mean seriously…I’m not that disorganized of a person, but for whatever reason it seems like I’m constantly losing something-my keys, my ID, my pen, etc.  It’s not always something major, but it’s always something.

For those of you who don’t know me as well, losing something is a huge pet peeve of mine.  I feel like a disappointment when I lose something.  And you’d think that if I know I lose things, I would be better about putting them in their proper place instead of just setting them down somewhere but no, I’m continuously making that mistake.

Also, as a student and a perfectionist, school can be stressful.  Doing all my assignments and getting all my tests studied for takes time, lots of time, and it’s hard to fit everything in.  Especially this year...I’m working two jobs, taking more harder courses at once than I ever have before, going to church, bible study, and BASIC, not to mention spending my own time reading the Bible or praying, and then trying to fit in a social life and sleep in on top of all of that.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a more exhausting year.  But…during the summer I told myself I was going to enjoy my senior year.  It’ll be done before I know it and soon I’ll be done with school forever.  L  I’ve always loved school, so I want to enjoy the end of this season in my life while it lasts.

One of the names for Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  The Bible promises peace that TRANSCENDS understanding.  Have you ever felt an inexplicable peace?  It’s only happened a few times in my life, and normally at times when I’m extremely busy, but when I’m relying on Scripture.  It happened on Sunday.  Sitting in church I was thinking about everything I had to do this week, and was seized by a sense of fear about getting it all done on time.  After a moment though I was filled with a sense of peace that had nothing to do with me.  It wasn’t that I was thinking about something else, or that I had figured out a way to get it all done, but nonetheless I was overcome with a sense of complete peace.

In John chapter 16 Jesus tells us that while we live here on earth we will have trouble.  We will face death, pain, worry, stressful situations, and hundreds of others emotions that are not from God.  But he promises that in HIM we can have peace.  This is the key.  It’s only THROUGH Jesus that we can have true peace and joy.  We cannot achieve it by ourselves, even though we all try (myself included).  Jesus promises that in him we can have peace and he promises that he has already overcome the world.

One of my favorite versus from this summer…

John 16:33  “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.”