"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you..." Jesus in John 14:27
Disruptions happen in our lives with alarming regularity. We are creatures of habit and routine (at least, many of us are like that), and when things come along that disrupt our habits and routines, we find ourselves somewhat out of sorts. It may not be a huge disruption, but sometimes even the smallest thing is enough to throw us off track.
Over the past several months, my family and I have been renting a house while we searched for a more permanent home. In the last couple of weeks, we have closed on the house that will become our home. We started lining up the various things we wanted to get done before we moved in, and also began packing up everything that we had been using that needed to be moved. Needless to say, there has been some disruption to our home lives while all of that has been taking place.
I also find this at the office. The month of August has been set aside to get several work items done, such as new paint and new carpet. Up to this point, it hasn't greatly affected me, but I know that the day is coming up when everything in my office will need to be moved out for a day or two while new carpet is installed. Not really a major or long term disruption, but it does change the routine and habit a little bit.
As a creature of habit and routine, I like when things go smoothly. It seems a lot more peaceful then. But then again, I have also noticed that, in my line of work, there are a lot of things that simply don't fit themselves into a routine or habit. And that's when I really start to realize that Jesus is talking about something far deeper than what I might be thinking about in the words quoted above.
The peace that Jesus brings isn't the kind of peace that is going to make everything in this world go smoothly. Our sinful natures, the presence of sin, and the work of the devil will make sure of that. Jesus doesn't promise the kind of peace that we tend to think of, such as when people get along without arguments or disruptions, or when life runs smoothly.
Instead, Jesus brings a far deeper peace. It's the kind of peace that knows that our lives are going to be disrupted regularly, by lack of routine, by sin, by others. The peace Jesus brings is the kind of peace that says, "sure, it's hectic and crazy, but even in all of that, I'm not going to leave you all alone. You don't have to face it as though it's you against the world. I won't allow it to become more than what I created you to handle."
Part of me doesn't like that. I want Jesus to make things smoother, not simply to remind me that He's there with me and that He's actually limiting the disruptions in my life. But then, there's definitely something reassuring in knowing that things could actually be a lot worse, and I've got someone with me that makes sure that it's never more than I can manage or handle.
Disruptions happen in our lives with alarming regularity. We are creatures of habit and routine (at least, many of us are like that), and when things come along that disrupt our habits and routines, we find ourselves somewhat out of sorts. It may not be a huge disruption, but sometimes even the smallest thing is enough to throw us off track.
Over the past several months, my family and I have been renting a house while we searched for a more permanent home. In the last couple of weeks, we have closed on the house that will become our home. We started lining up the various things we wanted to get done before we moved in, and also began packing up everything that we had been using that needed to be moved. Needless to say, there has been some disruption to our home lives while all of that has been taking place.
I also find this at the office. The month of August has been set aside to get several work items done, such as new paint and new carpet. Up to this point, it hasn't greatly affected me, but I know that the day is coming up when everything in my office will need to be moved out for a day or two while new carpet is installed. Not really a major or long term disruption, but it does change the routine and habit a little bit.
As a creature of habit and routine, I like when things go smoothly. It seems a lot more peaceful then. But then again, I have also noticed that, in my line of work, there are a lot of things that simply don't fit themselves into a routine or habit. And that's when I really start to realize that Jesus is talking about something far deeper than what I might be thinking about in the words quoted above.
The peace that Jesus brings isn't the kind of peace that is going to make everything in this world go smoothly. Our sinful natures, the presence of sin, and the work of the devil will make sure of that. Jesus doesn't promise the kind of peace that we tend to think of, such as when people get along without arguments or disruptions, or when life runs smoothly.
Instead, Jesus brings a far deeper peace. It's the kind of peace that knows that our lives are going to be disrupted regularly, by lack of routine, by sin, by others. The peace Jesus brings is the kind of peace that says, "sure, it's hectic and crazy, but even in all of that, I'm not going to leave you all alone. You don't have to face it as though it's you against the world. I won't allow it to become more than what I created you to handle."
Part of me doesn't like that. I want Jesus to make things smoother, not simply to remind me that He's there with me and that He's actually limiting the disruptions in my life. But then, there's definitely something reassuring in knowing that things could actually be a lot worse, and I've got someone with me that makes sure that it's never more than I can manage or handle.
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