Peace
Peace is something I have been struggling to define for years. Webster’s dictionary defines peace as “freedom from quarrels and disagreements” and the Greek word for peace is eiréné, meaning quietness or rest. These are great definitions but none of them described the kind of peace I heard about and read in the bible. Philippians 4:7, which happens to be our theme verse, said this about peace ”And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Of course, this was confusing because I still didn’t know what peace was or how to get it and keep it. I kept looking for a bit of clarity about peace. I found a story a mother told her child, which describes the kind of peace I had seen, heard about, and was searching for.
“There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked; he had to choose between them.
One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.
The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.
But when the king looked closely, He saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There in the midst of the rush of angry water sat the mother bird on her nest – in perfect peace.
Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?
“Because” explained the king, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is real peace.”
You can read the story of peace at http://www.iamspiritual.com/ called “Moral of the story. Real meaning of Peace”
Which picture would you have painted or do you have your idea of peace in a few words write what you think peace looks like.
I would have probably drawn what the first artist drew, peaceful circumstances. In the story it says the King had to lean closer to see this bird and find the peace in this picture. I don’t know if whoever told this story meant to but they just blew my mind. Not only was this picture a total storm but you also couldn’t immediately find the peace you have to come closer. The king leaned closer to the picture to see it but we can lean closer to God! 2 Thessalonians 3:16 says “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The lord be with you.” The Lord gives us peace! The Lord is with us and gives us peace but we must seek him. My youth pastor says, “If there is a 1000 miles between you and God, you walk the first and God will walk 999-but you walk the first.” Just like the king in the story you need to be trying to find peace, not praying, dear lord give me peace and then sitting there waiting for it to hit. As it says in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Go and seek first his kingdom.
Wow. After reading this story I immediately thought back to the joy devotional from last issue. We are supposed to have both joy and peace all the time, all day, everyday! How on earth are we supposed to do that? Both joy and peace no matter what is a pretty big task especially when there is a lot going on. Again this completely baffled me. So I looked back at Philippians 4:7 and found, Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation, by prayer and petition submit your requests to God.” I started breathing again. I know I can’t have joy and peace all the time on my own but this verse says to submit to God our worries our prayers our problems, our everything, and the peace will come through him! We don’t have to do it on our own because God is right there with us and we give our everything to him he gives us more than we can imagine. There are times when it is extremely hard to have peace because a lot of times God solves problems in ways we wouldn’t. There is no easy answer to why and no explanation we can give, but just remember it all transcends our understanding, everything. True peace and True joy in all circumstances are crazy ideas. We can have Peace and Joy even when we try and fail. Peace isn’t something I can define but it is something with God, it is something I can find.
In all my search I never found the perfect definition of peace I think I never will because of our theme verse, Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. I will never fully understand peace but with God I have peace and it is a beautiful mystery!