Finding Peace When You Have None

Stress is something so many of us deal with on a daily basis. One recent study said that 70% of Americans show physical and psychological signs of stress. Like 7 out of 10 of us are going crazy!

Our schedules are maxed out.
We’re constantly striving after something.
Social media makes us feel terrible about our lives.
Whenever we turn on the news the world is ending.
We wonder if maybe something is missing.

So often, there’s a constant tension and stress inside of us, whether it’s fear or worry or things in our lives are just not right.

So, how do we find peace when we don’t have any? Is rest a myth? Is true peace possible?

The answer: yes. How? Jesus!

How do we find peace: Jesus.
Run to Jesus.
Stay close to Jesus.
Remain in Jesus.
Follow Jesus.
How do we get and have this peace? Jesus.

But that sounds too simple, right? Some of us longtime Christians want something deeper than that. But just look at kids—the ones Jesus told us to look at. When they’re hurt, when they’re scared, overwhelmed or stressed what do they do? They just want to be close to mom and dad. They just want to be near them. And that brings peace.

Just like a mom or dad can bring peace to a kid, so too can God bring peace to us, his children.

Jesus isn’t just a peaceful person. Instead he’s the very source of peace. He’s where all the peace comes from. And being in his presence brings us supernatural peace.

In case you’re wondering, we don’t serve a far-off, distant God. He’s not a God who’s hard to find. Instead he’s a God who so loves us that he sends us Jesus. And even his name, Immanuel, means God with us.

So that’s how we get peace: Jesus. But once we’ve received it, what do we do with this peace? Once we’ve experienced for ourselves the unexplainable peace of Christ, what should we do with it?

Give it to others.

It’s as simple as that. Once we receive it we want to, we have to, offer it to others.

You see, God’s peace—the peace that comes from Jesus—it starts inside us, but it was never meant to end there. Instead his peace was meant to impact our relationships. It was meant to change the way we talk to strangers. It was meant to completely alter the way we treat people who are different from us.

God’s peace should spill out of us to others through our words and our actions and our attitude.

Not only when life is perfect, but even when life is imperfect.
Not just with people that we love, but even with people who annoy us.
Not just on our good days, but even on our bad days.

Even in the most stressful situations we should be bringing God’s peace to this person and that person and the next person.

You might think, well that’s impossible. I’m not naturally a peaceful person. And have you met my crazy coworker? My spouse? My neighbor? They’re so hard to love. So how is peace even possible? That brings us back to answer #1: Jesus.

How do we get peace: Jesus.
What do we do with it: Bring it to others.

It’s possible that you don’t have much peace right now. On your own you’re broken, stressed and anxious. But thankfully, we’re not on our own.

God is with us and he offers us his peace. His peace that surpasses all understanding. His peace that doesn’t make sense.

Jesus longs to offer his peace to us and through us.

Adam Weber is the founder and lead pastor of Embrace—a church that has six campuses in South Dakota and Minnesota—and the author of Talking With God: What to Say When You Don’t Know How to Pray (WaterBrook, 2017). This article was originally published on AdamWeber.com.

Adam Weber
Adam Weberhttp://AdamWeber.com

Adam Weber is the founder and lead pastor of Embrace—a church that has six campuses in South Dakota and Minnesota—and the author of Love Has a Name (WaterBrook).

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