Jesus in John 14:23-29 asks that we not let our
hearts be troubled. Is he kidding? Our world is in a perpetual state of
turmoil. How do we make sense of the bombings in Boston and the terrible
tragedy in Texas? The U.S. economy continues to hobble along at an unacceptable
pace. Ongoing debate over immigration and health care reform make us wonder
where is God in all these deliberations, the end point of which is political
advantage and not doing what’s right for people. And now, eyes abroad are
focused on new developments in Syria…did its malevolent dictator use Saran gas
to annihilate his people? And we're not supposed to be troubled? And what about
the day-to-day personal hurdles that seem insurmountable?
Peace is often
defined as the “freedom from upset, anxiety and disturbance.” But just maybe
the peace that Jesus speaks of is not the absence
of something but the addition of
something." John tells us that God wants us to abide in the comfort
of knowing that our faith does not remove difficult things but rather, it
gives us the “tools” and the ability to deal with them as part of our human
condition. As such, faith is not some divine
shut-off valve that stops the hurt but rather, it prevents life’s hurts from dominating
us and defining who we are, thereby preventing us from living fully human in the
presence of turmoil. The peace of Christ is given to us when we surrender our egos and trust—not our
circumstances but in God.
Peace
does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise or trouble o hard work;
it means to be in the midst of these things and still be calm in your heart (anonymous)
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