The Peace Of Christ

by J.L. Ferguson | Category: Great Spiritual Treasures | Apr 1991

The treasure in our hearts that we wish to consider in this article is the peace of Christ which has dwelt deep within us since the day we were converted to the Lord. Paul wrote about it to the Romans:

Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (5:1).

Before we were saved many of us were happy-go-lucky and not bothered all that much with problems within. Our attitude to life was a negative one. But when the peace of Christ came into our lives it was a positive reality. He gave us a basis for such peace: the assurance of forgiveness of sins, the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and the guarantee of an eternal inheritance with Him in glory. In that way a peace came to us that is sure and settled and capable of taking us untroubled through every disturbance we may encounter in life. It was Christ's own legacy to us.

You remember how on the night in which He was betrayed He said to His

few followers in the Upper Room:

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful (John 14:27).

He knew all that lay before Him; all about the agony in the garden and then the arrest; all about the mock trials, the scourgings and the crucifixion the following day, but He had a deep inner peace in the midst of it all.

Whatever problems you and I may be facing today; whatever trial we may have to go through tomorrow; whatever the present or the future may hold, the Lord Jesus has bequeathed us His peace so that we may face all with an untroubled heart. His grace will be sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9).

Sometimes we lie awake at night and worry about the problems we see looming up. Our imagination gets working and things begin to look very grim and we forget Isaiah's great message:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind (or imagination) is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee (26:3).

The words translated "perfect peace" are in the Hebrew simply peace, peace. It is the deep settled peace that can be experienced by us when we trust the Lord completely in every day of adversity. No wonder Paul described it as "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Phil. 4:7).

Right from the start of His ministry the Lord Jesus taught His disciples not to be anxious for tomorrow. He did not say take no thought for tomorrow, but He did say take no anxious thought for it. He was very practical in His reasons for saying so. He said in effect, look at the birds how God feeds them; the flowers how God adorns them. Take normal thought, but leave the worry side to God. He will see to it that you grow, although you by being anxious cannot add one inch to your height (Mat. 6:25-34).

It is a lovely thing when we just take our sovereign Lord at His word, rest on His promises, and let the peace of Christ dwell in us richly and effectively (Col. 3:15). He has guaranteed our well-being for all eternity, so let us trust Him to see us safely through the problems of today. He knows and understands that there are difficulties and sorrows in life for all of us at one time or another, experiences that cut in deep and sore. Indeed at this very moment some of you may be mourning the loss of a loved one recently gone; another may be facing an operation of a serious nature, another deeply concerned over a wayward child. The problems are endless. To us all as believers there comes in all its original freshness the counsel of God:

In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6,7).

J.L. Ferguson | Apr 1991
Great Spiritual Treasures