Peace in Your Life.

   From ancient times the hearts of men have longed for peace--not merely for cessation of war but for peace of mind and heart and soul. In the early days of Israel the benediction was, "The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Numbers 6:26. In the country where the majority populations are Moslem we have ever heard someone pronounce the salutation with: "Salaam aleikum"-- it means "Peace be unto thee". What did Jesus say about peace?. To His disciples then and in all ages, He said, "Peace I leave with you." John 14:27. (Read also John 16:33). The peace that brings calm to the soul and, through each individual, to the world is found only in Christ, the Prince of peace. It can be found nowhere else. It is Jesus who brings music to the feast of existence.   Wherever there is sin, however, disobedience of God's law, there can never be peace. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Isaiah 57:20,21. That is why so many peace plans for this world go awry. High-minded, self sacrificing men and women have worked for world peace and spent millions of rupiahs or dollars seeking it. They have organized leagues of nations and world associations, and have made treaties again and again in which the nations themselves have forsworn war as a policy. Yet sooner or later the war drums throb again. Why is this?. It is because they have been unable to eliminate sin from the world. WHERE THERE IS SIN, THERE IS WAR IN THE HEART AND FINALLY, IN THE LAND.
   As long as man has sinful heart, this world will never be free from war. New weapons, no matter how terrible, do not put an end to war. Peace conferences and treaties have not banished it. Fredrick the Great declared, in one of his letters to Voltaire, that as he ran over the pages of history, he noticed that 10 years never passed without a war somewhere. He said that this intermittent fever might have moments of respite but would never cease. From a human standpoint he was right, but from God's standpoint he was wrong. WAR WILL CEASE. GOD'S WORD TELLS US SO. Christ will come and war will cease, and cease forever. He will bring the peace that men for milleniums have dreames about and striven for. They "looked for peace, but no good came".(Jeremiah 8:15). In Isaiah 35:7 we find God's picture of the new world coming: "The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water". The marginal reading of the American Revised Version says, "The mirage shall become a pool." In other words, the dream will become a reality. Yes. according to Bible prophecy, the day is coming when this world's blasted hopes will become the real events of God's promise. He is now, and He is to be, our peace. The prophet Micah by inspiration gives us a beautiful prophecy of hope. Speaking of One who would be born in Bethlehem of Ephratah, where we know Jesus was born, "whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting," the prophet says, "He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God;...for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth." Micah 5:2,4. The marginal reading of the American Revised Version says, "This man shall be our peace." This Man" is Jesus Christ. And someday worldwide, global, everlasting peace will be realized through Him in the new earth, which He has promised to all believers. "Blessed are the meek," He said, "for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5.)
   The “new heavens and a new earth,”declared the Apostle Peter, will be a place “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:13). So we are to look for, to expect, to belive in, and to plan for this new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness”. And with this we read Isaiah 32:17,18 : “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” It is only when Christ sits on the world throne that men will know world peace. CHRIST WILL BRING PEACE AT LAST TO A WARRING WORLD. He will, when He reigns. But we need not wait for that day to have peace of heart. In the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel is a fourfold cure for worry, a fourfold recipe for peace of heart in this life. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”. ( John 14:1-3).
   I. THE FIRST RULE THAT JESUS GIVES FOR PEACE OF MIND IS TO “BELIEVE IN GOD”. Anyone who has real faith in God will stop worrying. Jesus called Him Father, and God is our Father, too. When we were little children, we never worried about what we would eat, what we would wear, whether we would be sick, whether we would live or die. We left all worry to father and mother. They would look after everything. They knew everything, and they loved us. If God is our heavenly Father, why should we ever worry?. Why should we not have peace in our heart?. Why should we, like many today, worry about losing our jobs; worry about getting ulcers, stomach trouble, cancer?. Why be distressed about death, taxes, war, atom?. Jesus said that FAITH IN GOD IS A CURE FOR WORRY. “Let not your heart be troubled” ---in other words, distressed, worried, lacking peace. “Except ye….become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). LET US HAVE FAITH IN GOD AS A CHILD HAS FAITH IN HIS FATHER. “In God we trust”. That’s it! We can quit worrying. We can have peace of heart. Jesus loves us. He cares for us. He said that the very hairs of our head are numbered (Matthew 10:30), that God knows all about us. He understands our thoughts “afar off,” as we read in Psalm 139:2. He knows all about us and loves us just the same. We can believe in Him; we can trust Him.
   II. We come now to the second part of Jesus’prescription for soul peace : “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” ( Read John 14:1-3). We shall not worry if we believe in Christ. He is the Saviour of the world. We must believe that He died on the cross for our sins. If we worry about our sins after we have confessed them, we do not believe that God has forgiven them. In John 2:2 we read that Jesus died “for the sins of the whole world”. And in 1 John 1:9 it is written, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”. So if we will but confess and forsake our sins, we need never worry more about them, no matter how we feel. Our salvation is not based on feeling, but fact : the very promise of God in Christ. Christ foresees the future, and we should not worry about that either. In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, Jesus gave an outline of the future, a prophecy of the days to come. Our savior not only takes care of the past, but He takes care of the future, too. And He promises that those who love Him will be with Him where He is. We need never to be separated from Him—neither now in spirit, nor then in actual presence. (John 17:24). And in Matthew 28:20 He says, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”. THEN WHY SHOULD WE WORRY?. Let us believe in Jesus as our Saviour.
   III. Now we come to the third part of the prescription that Jesus gave for mind peace. It is found in John 14:2: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”. There it is!. We are not to worry, because there is a home waiting for us; there is a heaven bejond. We are not going to be left out in the cold with no place ro go. This life is not the end of the story; the cemetery is not the last resting place; the last word is not said at the funeral. The things that are cruel, so unjust, so hard to understand in this world, will be straightened out in the next. The entries in the ledger of life will be carried forward to another page. There is a land beyond, a life beyond, a reunion beyond, where the children of God will meet and greet, nevermore to part. This verse (John 14:2) plainly says that there is a place for God’s people—yes, HEAVEN ITSELF is a place; it is real, and Jesus will be there. Though your heart may be broken today because you have lately lost a dear one, “Let not your heart be troubled.” If you believe in God’s land of tomorrow, beyond the sighing and the crying, beyond the tears, beyond the night, beyond the heartache, you have confidence that God’s tomorrow will be better than today. The Scripture say plainly that in that glorious we shall be like Jesus. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2. “Let not your heart be troubled.” The half has never yet been told! When MARCO POLO, the famous Venetian traveler of the thirteenth century, came back and told people of the wonders he had seen in the faraway kingdoms of the East, very few people believed him. Later, when he lay dying, he was urged by his attendants to recant, to withdraw all the false statements he had made about China and the lands of the Far East. But he said, “No, I have nothing to recant. It’s all true—every bit of it. In fact, I have not told half of what I saw.” So it is with the subject of heaven: the half has never yet been told. Our doubting will not change the glories of heaven. No matter what heaven is like, it is beyond our imagination. It cannot judged by this life. We shall never be able to tell half, not a hundredth, not a thousandth part of what heaven really is.
   IV. And now we come to the fourth and last part of Jesus’ cure for worry. It is in John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Jesus is coming again!. He was here once, and He will come back. The world has not seen the last of Him. Looking out upon conditions in our world—war, famine, sickness, wickedness, and sorrow—many are filled with worry and anxiety. Hearts are failing for fear. Jesus speaks of this very time, as we read in Luke 21:25,26: “There shall be…distress of nations, with perplexity;…men’s hearts failing them for fear.” But, “let not your heart be troubled.” Why not?. Because He is coming again !. “Then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:27. Whoever the man was, his faith was wisely anchored in Jesus. So, we have these four reasons why Christians should never worry, why they should always have peace of heart. ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?. If you are, there are available to you great reservoir of strength and courage. If you are not, do not wait one minute longer. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. Then the burden of worry and sorrow will roll away from your heart, and you will be able to go through anything looking up.

CONCLUSION: Jesus is our peace now, individually; and when He comes in glory, His peace will cover the earth as the waters cove the sea.


Referensi:
What Jesus Said, H.M.S. Richard-Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tennessee.