Success versus Significance

When most of us think of peace, we probably picture a specific place—maybe outside away from all noise and distractions. We may think of being alone where we cannot be interrupted. We picture a place where we don’t have responsibilities or a checklist to worry about. The problem is, if this is our definition of peace, we won’t find it in our every day lives. Our lives are filled with noise, distractions, interruptions, demands, responsibilities, and to-do lists. We can’t even have peace when we sleep because our kids wake us up, or we lie awake at night thinking of all the ways we’re failing or everything we’re forgetting. Not to mention the fact that our world is full of endless opportunities for us to become anxious, annoyed, or apathetic.  But Jesus offers true peace. A peace that isn’t dependent upon circumstances or feelings. What setd Jesus’s followers apart from the rest of the world is the peace we carry in the midst of the chaos. We don’t have to wait for our next child-less vacation to experience the peace we crave. We can experience unwavering peace through the Holy Spirit right now. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NIV). Jesus’s peace isn’t confined to a place, an emotion, or a circumstance. It outlasts anything that threatens to destroy it. And for this reason, it surpasses our understanding. We won’t understand why we can have peace when everyone else is lost in anxiety. We won’t know why we have peace when the world around us feels like it is on fire. But we can praise God for his gift of unwavering peace that is greater than the superficial peace we try to find elsewhere. Reflection/Discussion Question: Where are you trying to find peace lately?

For many of us, we have to hit rock bottom in order to be open to hearing from God. Jacob ends up wrestling with God when he is alone and surrounded by hard. He had been keeping himself so busy that he never stopped to listen to God. Can you relate? Many of us pack our lives full of soccer games, school events, work, social gatherings, side-hustles, Bible study groups, and housework that we never have a quiet moment to be with God. Maybe Jacob wrestled with God because it was the only way he was going to stop and evaluate his own life. We are too busy with our routines that we never stop to evaluate what we believe, where we are with God, and where we are going. We set out to run away, with no thought about where we might end up. But God gives us purpose and direction. When life is hard, we can run toward God. He doesn’t promise to take our suffering away right now, but he does promise to take all suffering away in the end. First Peter 1:3-7 says this: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold, which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (CSB). We can run towards what is hard because we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. We can run toward hard because we have an inheritance kept in Heaven for us that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. We can run toward hard because we are being guarded by God’s power. And we can run toward hard because this hard is refining our faith so that our lives can result in praise, glory, and honor to Jesus. Reflection/Discussion Question: How can you start to implement more moments of quiet in your day in order to run toward God?