Peace: Priceless commodity

Ordinarily, the word peace refers to amity, harmony, freedom from strife or absence of war. This ordinary peace is the kind that is offered by the world and it is normally based on external circumstances.
If conditions of living or working change for the better, this peace increases. But if living or working conditions worsen, it decreases. This external peace is what we want on earth. It is hard to get because it depends on how each individual tries to live peaceably with others.
 We seek this external peace and pursue it but we never attain it in full because there are people who are determined to cause strife and war. The psalmist said, “I am for peace; but they are for war.” Here on earth some are for peace while others are for war so perfect external peace is a dream that will never come true in this fallen world. But it will be achieved in the new heaven and new earth prophesied by Isaiah. In his Utopian vision he saw lions, sheep and children dwelling together in peace.
In the ark of Noah this external peace with each other prevailed. But note that the peace was given by God and was not a result of human effort.
This supernatural kind of peace given to us by God comes in three dimensions: eternal, internal, and external.
External peace with each other is what I have defined and explained above. We attain eternal peace with God when we get born again. The blood of Jesus Christ brought us peace with God and we are now eternally reconciled to God if we are saved. This eternal peace delivers us from fear of judgment and hellfire.
To the saved, eternal peace is guaranteed but internal peace is needed. Internally, we need the peace of God. This peace of God was left as a legacy for us by Christ Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The Amplified version says, “Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.”
Jesus Christ had perfect internal peace. The peace of God in his heart meant that he slept in the midst of a storm. While the disciples ran helter-skelter making frantic efforts to save themselves from the storm Jesus was sleeping peacefully on a pillow in the same storm-tossed boat (Mark 4:40).
Jesus was the master of any circumstance because he enjoyed the perfect peace of God. He did not allow Himself to be perturbed, moved or troubled by external situations.
He attained and maintained such amazing peace of God in his heart by trusting in God. Because he stayed his mind on God’s care, love and preservation his peace was solid. The peace of God ruled his heart (Col. 3:15) and that enabled him to rule his external world.
It is important to notice the progression of these kinds of peace. Firstly, you should have peace with God. If you are at peace with God then you can allow the peace of God to rule in your heart. When the peace of God is ruling in your heart then you can go on to rule your external world. This is the way Jesus Christ did it. It is our example.
Eternal peace is granted us at salvation but internal peace is depended upon where our minds dwell.
If our imagination and thoughts centre on the boisterous and volatile circumstances around us we will not have peace in our inner world. And when we do not have peace on the inside we cannot give or find peace in the outer world. Worldly peace is derived from favourable circumstances of life and it changes with shifts in the external circumstances.
But the peace that surpasses all understanding, the supernatural peace of God, starts from within by maintaining a God-consciousness and spreads out to our external world. If you want to have the peace of God then be diligent to keep your mind focused on the power and love of God. To maintain it, stop allowing yourself to be agitated, disturbed and unsettled by the negative trends of your surrounding world. Since Christ has already given it to us, you are the one who determines the presence of God’s peace in your heart.
 

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