“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14:27
Have you ever been tricked into buying something or trying something because the ad made it sound perfect? Once you’ve spent the money you realized it actually wasn’t the quality you were expecting to receive.
Yeah, I’m pretty much the poster child for this situation.
We’ve all been there.
Something, anything, can look so satisfying when it is presented to us in a sweet, tiny, precious little package! I personally am always sold on office and craft supplies that I don’t always need. They are advertised at an amazing price. But, to each his own.
Seriously, how awful is this situation?
You’ve spent time and money on something you really wanted and worked hard for, and then it comes out dissatisfying and lack luster.
Every time I find myself in this situation I can’t help but think that this is exactly what the world does to us.
Daily we are faced with pretty packages like a 4.0 college career, a happy-go-lucky family life, or a perfect marriage. But, once we’ve “bought” these ideas from the world, we soon find out that our “products” aren’t as good as they seems. Our dissatisfaction breeds anxiety, anger, and discouragement. Our restlessness can lead to sin and ungodly actions, bringing our lives to disasters rather than the prefect little presents we thought we were getting.
After meditating on this thought, I came to one major question we must ask ourselves: How can we defend ourselves from falling into the world’s most deadly trap?
Like anything else, we have to trust in the Lord and turn to His Word!
John 14:27 tells us: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world give to you.”
Let stop there for just a second because that alone should be enough to let us know that God gives us our peace, not the world nor it’s picturesque offers! Our Savior is willing to hand over His peace to us because His love runs so deep for us!
Already, we should be comforted and motivated to run towards the life Christ hands us, not what the world deceivingly offers.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
In the second half of the verse God is comforting us yet again. He is putting our anxieties to rest when He tells us not to be afraid. And even though its not stated in this verse specifically; when you’ve built that relationship and trust in the Lord and you arm yourself with His Word, you can trust that when He says not to be afraid, then you really don’t have to be!
You know that ultimately His plan is far better than anything the world could hand us.
Go out in confidence! Go out into this world knowing that what it offers is nothing but distractions from the beautiful and perfectly designed plans God has created for your life.
Leave a Reply