Prince of my peace

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

John 14:1

Jesus makes this promise/command right after He informs Peter that he would deny Jesus three times. I’m sure this caused a stir among the disciples and a sinking feeling in Peter. And yet Jesus makes this call to faith and promise of peace. The path to a calm heart is the peace of Christ. And that is found in faith in Him.

The disciples picked up on this truth and spread it through the church. They knew that believing the grace of Jesus brought the peace of Jesus into lives. Seventeen times in the New Testament writings, the church is greeted with “grace and peace”. It is practically an apostolic signature. Paul used it. Peter wrote it in his epistles. John proclaimed it. So this call to believe Jesus and thus calm troubled hearts certainly sunk in to become a hallmark of early Christianity. They believed and found peace. We believe God’s grace and find peace.

It is now December, and we are celebrating the gift of salvation in our Prince of Peace, Jesus. Despite the chaos in the world, Jesus reigns. Jesus brings peace... peace with God through the forgiveness of sins by His death... peace with our future by the hope of eternal life through His resurrection... peace in our present by interceding with us now before the Father. Jesus also brings peace with other people through the creation and growth of His Church as His people of peace. Jesus brings peace to our troubled hearts as we trust His sufficiency and then surrender our sorrows and weaknesses to His great healing and sustaining grace.

Lord Jesus,

Prince of my peace, I will not let me heart be troubled by the cares and worries around me. I will believe in You and find peace.

Amen