In man’s quest for peace humanists philosophers have continually informed us that an will eventually work out his problems.  Many Christian and religious leaders, echoing these teachings, tell us that “man is by nature good.”

While it is true that man, working by principles God has revealed to us in the Bible, may achieve temporary peace and the imitation of God’s Kingdom, thousands of years of human misery have only proved what God’s word tells us of ourselves: Man is sinful and corrupt. (Psalm 14:1-3; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23). The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that the evil we do is a kind of insanity which grips humankind (Ecclesiastes 9:3).

We desperately need peace. Peace within the races of man. Peace with our homes and families. Peace in our hearts.

The first step towards the true and lasting peace we crave is to have peace with God. God, who is the source of peace, is the only one who is able to restore us to peace with Himself and so with each other.

Jesus said, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give to you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried or upset; do not be afraid” (John 14:27 GNB).

We can try by our own ingenuity, cleverness, reasoning, and self-will to create peace. But, with all of our efforts towards peace we continually stumble over our own limitations. The peace Jesus offers us can never be achieved by our own efforts. Jesus’ peace is given “not as the world gives,” since its source is in God.

The peace which Jesus gives comes as we surrender     our lives to God.  We need to give up our self-focused strivings.  We need to give to God the wounds, bitterness, and anger in our hearts.  Our will and the very core of who we are must be surrendered to Jesus as the Lord of our lives.  He must be the one to renew us and lead us to peace with God and with each other.

Perhaps the greatest assurance, for those of us who have trusted in Jesus as our Savior, is that someday we will experience a life of eternal peace with God. In the midst of a crumbling world of sin and man’s self-delusion we know that there is more to life than this present age.

It is easier for me to make peace with those around me when I remember how Jesus died on the cross so that I might have peace with Him. We need to follow His sacrificial example of peacemaking in our relationships with others.

Ultimately, it is God who must be the one to make us into people of peace. (Galatians 5:22,23).  Jesus said that peacemakers would be called the “sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). That we are peacemakers is evidence that God is at work within us and that we have given Him authority over our hearts.

If you don’t know His peace ask God to show you what keeps you from it. May each of us learn to accept the peace which God offers us through Jesus. May we learn to dwell, looking forward, to His eternal peace. As He leads us, may He teach us to be bringers and sharers of the peace which is ours in Jesus.