What does peace feel like to you? To me, it’s sitting on my back porch step with a cup of coffee listening to the wind in the leaves, smelling cut alfalfa or newly blossoming lilacs (and sneezing a lot). Peace looks different to different people. Some find the country too harsh or too boring and experience peace in a more urban landscape, but everyone would probably agree that peace is rightness. Just general rightness in life, where you’re happy and content and not afraid.
That kind of rightness is possible even if your life has been turned on its head, but only through Christ. Peace is truly only possible through the Holy Spirit’s power, but if you’re a follower of Christ, you have access to that power. According to Galatians 5:22-23, “the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Peace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and to get it, all we have to do is choose to use it.
Yesterday I blogged about intellectual peace–having peace of mind, choosing not to worry about life. But what about the other kind of peace? What about emotional peace? Peace of heart. That one’s a little trickier because emotions are always tricky. God created us to be emotional being. Our emotions are part of who we are.
Blossoming lilacs at Safe Haven Farm, Haven, KS
Today’s verses are Romans 5:1-2.
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
Feeling at peace runs deeper than our circumstances or our physical location on Earth. It’s deeper than our relationships with each other. Emotional peace stems from being right with God. That’s the basis of everything because if you’re right with God, everything else will fall into place.
If you have chosen to believe that Jesus died to pay for the things you’ve done wrong, you are made right with God. Jesus’ sacrifice is what justifies us. Not our works. Not our lives. Not our church attendance. Not our parents’ lives. Only believing in Jesus’ sacrifice for yourself will allow you to have a relationship with God. What’s more, if you believe this, nothing you can ever do will take it away from you because you didn’t do anything to earn it in the first place. It’s a gift from God, and God doesn’t take gifts back.
So, that being said, why do I worry about my future? Why do I fret about things I can’t control? Why do I feel so wretched?
This may be getting a little deeper theologically than I normally do, but human beings were made with three parts–a body, a soul, and a spirit. But our soul is divided into another three parts, intellect, emotion and will. And it’s our intellect, emotion and will that makes us who we are. It’s also how we were made in God’s image because God also has intellect, emotion and will.
But like the rest of our world, those three facets of who we are broke when Adam sinned. So our emotions are important to our lives, but we can’t always trust them. There are some days when you just won’t feel like a follower of Christ. You just won’t feel like God is close. You just won’t feel like doing the right thing. But on those days, you have to discount what you feel and do what you know.
Feelings are difficult. They’re treacherous. They can lead you down a path, whispering that peace is just around the bend, and when you get there, you find out that they were lying and it’s just deeper trouble waiting for you.
I’m not an expert on this, but I have struggled with my emotions because I’m human and female. I can only share what has helped me. And that is knowing who God is.
I love my emotions. I wouldn’t want to go through life without them, and they help me connect to God on many levels where just plain knowledge falls short. God created us with emotions for a reason, and our emotions can be used to bring Him glory. But my emotions don’t always work the way they’re supposed to, kind of like the rest of me. So I can’t always trust them, kind of like the rest of me. (Are you catching the theme here?) And I have to compare what I’m feeling at the moment to what I know is true in the Bible, and if what I’m feeling is true then I shouldn’t stop myself from feeling it. But if what I’m feeling is a lie, I shouldn’t waste time on it.
Emotions are just like every other part of life. If they don’t match up with what is in the Bible, they’re going to make trouble for you.
The first step to peace of heart is to know who God is, through prayer and Bible study and daily worship. The next step is to trust Him. And that’s not something anyone else can do for you. That’s between you and God. But the longer you know Him, the easier it is to trust Him; and the more you trust Him, the more peace you’ll have.
So if you don’t feel at peace today? First, check your heart. Make sure you’re where you need to be. Make sure you’re listening. Make sure you’re obeying. Because sometimes a lack of peace is an indication that something is going on in your life that shouldn’t be going on. But if you’re in the right place and you’ve cleared the air with God and you still feel conflicted, talk to Him about it. Tell Him. Yes, He already knows, but He wants to hear from you anyway.
Then, maybe this sounds clichéd, but read some Scripture. Read a Psalm. Read the Book of Philippians. Read Romans. Just read something in the Bible. And don’t just read it; let it sink in, understanding that the words in the Bible were written for you. From God to you. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel.
And if that still doesn’t work and you still don’t feel at peace, find a mature Christ-follower and talk to them. Pray with them. And be patient and wait and keep watching for God to do something. But above all else, remember that you can’t always trust what you feel. First, trust what you know.
Always Peachy 