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It’s What You Are That Counts #4

How to Keep Your Cool When Things Get Hot

Many stories of bravery have come to us out of the Christian church of the first century. One such story is about a believer who had been sentenced to burn at the stake. When the jailer came to get him, he asked, “Are you upset and nervous about what’s about to happen to you?” To which the prisoner replied, “Just place your hand over my heart and discover how calm I am.”
There are many verses in the New Testament which refer to the extraordinary peace that was demonstrated by the early Christians.

This is truly remarkable, since society at that time was hostile to Christianity. In fact, a person brave enough to openly admit he believed in Jesus Christ was in effect signing his own death warrant. Men and women, even children and the elderly, were hunted like animals and burned at the stake or thrown to wild beasts. And yet, in spite of these daunting circumstances, the Christians in that pagan world were noted for their unshakable peace.
I was interested to discover that the word peace is found in every book of the New Testament except for one. But the roots of the biblical concept of peace are found way back at the beginning of time.
In the Old Testament the word for peace is translated as shalom. Most people would define peace as the absence of war or tension, but shalom conveys the concept of wholeness and completeness. In Hebrew thought, shalom means well-being in the widest sense of the word.

It was this kind of peace, the peace of wholeness and well-being, that Jesus promised to those who would follow Him when He said,
“Peace I leave with you: my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27 NKJV).

What a promise for those hunted and persecuted believers! What a promise for our day and time.

As a result of Jesus’ gift of peace to us, we don’t have to allow fear to dominate our lives. This peace is the perfect antidote to troubled times whether they’re during the first century or the 21st century. And, friend, God wants to give you this same peace as another aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Although Jesus has promised to give us His peace, He also reminds us that we can expect to have some trouble in our lives. He said, “If the world hates you, it hated me first, as you know well. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because I have chosen you out of the world, for that reason the world hates you. Remember what I said: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ As they persecuted me, they will persecute you; they will follow your teaching as little as they have followed mine. It is on my account that they will treat you thus, because they do not know the One who sent me” (John 15:18-21 New English Bible).

Jesus knew what it was like to be hated. He suffered rejection and abuse, yet He was possessed by peace. He knew opposition, yet He remained whole in spite of pressures. He knew deep weariness, yet He remained un-shattered. Even the hatred of the very people He came to earth to save didn’t shake His composure or confidence.

Jesus knows that His followers will feel external kinds of tensions. He told us we could experience hatred, mistreatment, and persecution. He knows that we live in a twisted society that’s subject to all kinds of perversion and crime. Yet, in spite of all of this, He’s promised to give us peace.

I can hear you asking, “If He’s promised us peace when things are really bad, then how do we get it? Well, let me assure you, it’s not a secret, neither is it just for some and not for another. Anyone can have it, because the peace that Jesus has promised--that wholeness; that completeness, and true inner well being--is found in our personal relationship with God. Peace is not some holy feeling that comes upon us in church. It’s a state of calm rising from a heart deeply and firmly established in God. Christ is our source of peace, and that source is always there, no matter what may be happening around us.

You see, we don’t belong to the world, we belong to God. So if we center our life on ourselves and what goes on around us, we’ll find that even a little change of circumstance can shatter our sense of security. But, on the other hand, when our life is centered on God, nothing can shake us or threaten the certainty that I am His, and He is mine, forever.

What a comfort it is to realize that Jesus Himself has chosen us, and that our relationship with God is not by luck nor is it an accident. We have peace because we know we’re loved. When we remind ourselves that God is for us, then we’ll have the peace that Jesus has promised. No, this peace won’t make the problems of this world disappear, but it will sustain us whatever may come our way.

Some people think that, if we just have enough faith, God will protect us against all disappointments and problems. But Jesus Himself had disappointments. He was rejected even by those who claimed to be His friends. And as His followers, we can expect to be treated the same way. Jesus said, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20 NKJV). So the point is not that we’ll escape the problems of this life, but that in spite of them we can have peace.

The psalmist David found this kind of peace even when walking in the valley of the shadow of death. He wrote, “I will fear no evil for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4 NKJV).

The story is told of two painters. Each one painted a picture to illustrate his concept of peace. The first painter chose for his scene a quiet, solitary lake nestled in the far-off mountains. The second painter threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch-tree bending over the foam. At the fork of a branch, almost wet with the water’s spray, a little bird sat on her nest. The first painting could better have been called Stagnation. Only the last one could truly be titled Peace; for peace is best illustrated by contrasting two situations—tranquility and energy; silence and turbulence; creation and destruction; fearlessness and fearfulness.

Two contrasting situations were illustrated when on one occasion Jesus and His disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a small fishing boat. Jesus was tired and lay down and went to sleep, while the disciples manned the sails. Sometime during the night a severe storm arose. As the wind howled and the waves crashed, the 12 disciples were scared nearly to death. But Jesus continued to sleep. He trusted that His Heavenly Father would do right by Him whatever problems He might face.

The ratio of 12 fearful disciples to 1 peaceful Jesus reminds us that, when the sea of life becomes turbulent, the majority will fret, worry, fume, and lose sleep, while only a few, who have learned to trust in that inner peace, will sleep and awake refreshed for another new day.

Outwardly, Christ endured one of the most troubled lives ever lived--storms and turmoil, turmoil and storms. Wave after wave broke over Him until His worn body was laid in the tomb. Yet His inner life was as smooth as a sea of glass, and a great calm was always around Him. Anyone could have gone to Him at any time and found peace. Even as the human bloodhounds confronted Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, He gave to His disciples, and to us, a final legacy: He said, “My peace I give to you” (John 14:27 NKJV).

When a friend visited Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, he was amazed at the missionary’s serenity in spite of his many burdens and busy schedule. The friend finally mustered up the courage to say, “You’re occupied with millions, I with tens. Your letters are pressingly important, mine are of comparatively little value. Yet I’m worried and distressed, while you’re always calm. Tell me, what’s the difference?”

That dear old missionary replied, “I could not possibly get through the work I have to do without the peace of God which passes all understanding keeping my heart and mind.”

His words remind me of the text which says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).

St. Francis of Assisi said it beautifully in his credo:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

This is Lonnie Melashenko reminding you that it’s always true, God loves you.