John 14:27 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 afraid
Usually when I am on the phone with someone and I don’t know where they are, my first two questions are, “Where are you?” and “How are you doing?” There was a day when if you called someone, you actually called the phone tethered to their house. Then, when I was twenty-one, I was really high speed. I had a car phone. So, if I wasn’t at my house, you could call my car, and if I was in my car, I could answer. Now you don’t call a house or a car; you call a person, and 99.9% percent of the time that phone is within an arm’s reach of them. Consequently, when you call someone, you are not calling a location, you are calling a person. So, I ask, “Where are you?” and “How are you doing?”
The reason I ask those questions is because so many times those are the questions that determine whether or not we have peace. Where am I and how am I doing? The problem with finding your peace in your location or station is that primary peace cannot come from these. That is why so many people trying to find peace don’t realize that their problem is inside. They carry that problem with them. They change their place when they should change their person. They change their circumstance when what they should change is their mind. Peace is an inside job.
In John 14:1 Jesus said to His disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” They were in trouble because Judas would betray Jesus and Peter would deny Him. This was all an inside job. For instance, in John 13:2 and 27 we find that Judas’ actions were the result of Satan’s influence. The Bible says that after the supper Satan entered into Judas. In John 14:17 Jesus talks about the Spirit of truth, God Himself, the Holy Spirit, and He says, “But ye know him [the Holy Spirit]; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” In both cases, Judas and Peter, their peace or lack thereof was an inside job.
Maybe you have gone to the dentist or some other unpleasant place, and you are having some work done. In your mind you are a hundred miles away at your happy place. You are on the beach or some other place that brings you solitude. You are changing your place in your mind. I myself have hiked all the way to my favorite lake, Rainbow Lake, or on different trails in the Rocky Mountains when I was at a doctor’s office. I wasn’t physically going anywhere, but I was on a hike in my mind.
What are we talking about when we say that peace is an inside job? Are we simply talking about imagining a better place or are we talking about something different? Well, first, we are talking about a Person. In John 14, Philip asked the Lord, “Hey, show us the Father and it is good enough for us.” Jesus replied, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” In verse 18 Jesus says, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” Jesus is speaking of sending the Holy Spirit, but He says, “I will come to you.” The Bible tells us that He is our peace, not just that He brings or gives peace; He is peace.
Recall the story when the disciples were in a boat in the storm. Storms are part of life. Their problem was not that they were in a storm, but that the storm was in them. So, Jesus stilled the storm and then stilled the disciples. He rebuked the waves and then rebuked the disciples. He said, “Peace be still.” Peace is a Person.
Peace is a presence. In verse 18 Jesus says, “I will come to you.” I remember years ago at Smoky Mountain National Park, we were driving through Cade’s Cove. There was a long line of cars by an open meadow, and over to our left in the tall grass we saw a bear cub, snuggly, furry, and cute, that bounded through the grass, across the road, and into the trees on the other side. If someone followed this cute little bear into the trees thinking it was defenseless and by itself, they would have been sorely mistaken and would have paid for that dearly. Why? A bear cub is not defenseless because it is not alone. You see, peace is not an absence of problems, it is the presence of a Person. So, stop waiting to be in a better place or circumstance. Realize that peace is a Person and peace is a presence. It is the presence of Jesus.
Finally, you find peace itself in verse 27. Jesus says, “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 afraid.” There were a number of reasons for the disciples to be afraid. Their whole world was spinning. Notice what Jesus says, “My peace I give unto you.” I wonder what kind of peace you have? Jesus says, “My peace.” It is the peace that the Bible says passes all understanding.
Today, regardless of where or how you are, you can have peace because peace is an inside job. Peace is about a Person, His presence, and the peace He gives to us wherever we are.