Day 10: Philippians 4:7 (NLT)
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
This is a continuation of yesterday’s verse about not worrying about anything, but praying about everything. “God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” Or “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
Peace that “exceeds anything we can understand” or “transcends all understanding.” I love that! How encouraging is it that we can have peace; peace that soothes and calms our souls, our hearts, our minds. And all we need to do to receive it is to pray about anything and everything. Simple conversations in our hearts and minds with our Heavenly Father, with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit. We didn’t have that as an option for this peace before Jesus. Jesus made us whole with God, by being the sacrifice for all of us.
Humans are flawed. It’s not our fault, it’s how we were made. God realized this, and he provided a solution. In a very 21st century tech-y way, God supplied Jesus as the software patch to our faulty operating systems. We were good until we listened to the serpent — or any other manner of origin story for those from different faiths. The solution is Jesus.
He chose to live and die so that we would receive this peace that goes beyond all understanding, so that we would have this relationship with God, our Heavenly Father, through Jesus’ love and sacrifice. Jesus rose again to prove to us that this was true.
Yes, people have twisted and corrupted Jesus’ message over the 2000 years since he walked the earth. They’ve used it to abuse others, to murder, rape, subjugate, steal, destroy; to gain power and wealth, and all manner of earthly things. They don’t get it. They never did.
Jesus is not here for power, for dominance, for wealth, or for profit.
Jesus is here for love, for peace, for grace, and for mercy.
He came to heal the sick, to calm our fears, to bring us peace, and above all to show us that love is the answer. Love God, love everybody. And that means everybody no matter who they are, what they wear, what they believe. No matter if their politics are the same as yours or different; heck if they’re good politicians or the untrustworthy ones we seem to get, we should love them all the same. Loving someone is not the same thing as trusting someone. Jesus isn’t asking us to be foolish, but to love others despite their failings — and our own.
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For the rest of the entry, check out 21 Days of Encouragement:A Devotional
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