One
of the most prominent questions in life with all its turmoil and
problems is, "How do I feel peace?" It's the one thing everybody
seeks for and desires. Yet, peace to the worldly person has
a very different meaning and method of attaining than the peace
of the spiritual person. Let's take a closer look at how we, as
Christians, can have the peace of God and not fall into the
trap of the world in order to achieve this state of being.
What
the world offers, "The peace of the world," is not really
peace at all but pleasure based on outward circumstances.
It's easy to feel happy when our worldly circumstances are going
well, but this peace is not guaranteed even till tomorrow.
What God has to offer is a package that will give us continual joy
and fulfillment not based on what happens around us. In the Agpeya
Prayer Book in the Third Hour, we invite the Holy Spirit to come
into our lives to help and guide us. Through the Holy Spirit, we
receive a special kind of peace, which is the one we would
like to look at. This is the continual and everlasting peace
everyone would like to have.
During
the time before the Lord Jesus died and resurrected to Heaven, His
disciples were afraid at the thought of being separated from their
precious Lord - Jesus Christ. For they had been with someone who
had given them everything they needed - love, encouragement, guidance,
and so much more. However, He reassured them by telling them, "My
peace I leave with you."
This
meant that He would give them a certain kind of peace that
would be a great consolation to the disciples in this difficult
world. This peace has three characteristics. First of all,
this peace is of a spiritual nature, not based on the circumstances
of this world but based on one's love for God. Secondly, this is
the peace of God's abiding presence being with them always,
even though He left His Fleshly Form and as the Prince of this world
is coming again. Finally, this peace is of an inner knowledge
and focus of a future Kingdom with God forever.
The
first point I want to discuss is the peace He gives us based
on a spiritual nature. Jesus told His disciples that the peace
He will give them will be a distinct peace different from
what the world gives, in order to feel His true spiritual presence
with them at all times. The world may give a person temporary peace
based on a pleasurable experience.
For
example, a man may feel pleasure at the position he holds in his
career or the type of car he drives, and a young woman may feel
pleasure going to malls and clothes shopping or going on outings
with her friends. However, this is a temporary peace because
if the main source of happiness in one's life is such as the one
described, then if it is gone or becomes unachievable, the person
loses his or her peace and his or her world falls apart.
What
the world calls peace is really "worldly happiness" as determined
by "worldly circumstances." This is not to say that God does not
desire to bless us by giving us good positions or friendships; for
He always wants to bless us and provide for us in every area of
our lives. However, we have to come to the point in our spiritual
lives of really understanding how temporary this life really is
and that if our souls find the most pleasure by the things that
are in it and the people in it more than God, then we really haven't
found Him and His Kingdom in our hearts.
The
next question we have in our minds is "How can we desire this spiritual
world and the peace of God more than the pleasures of this
world when this world is so tempting?"
As
Orthodox Christians, we have been baptized and given the Holy Myroun,
which symbolizes the Holy Spirit, when we were infants. It is up
to us now to live out our Christian walk by having a relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's
ponder on the reality that the Lord Jesus Christ has so much love
for us that He desired to give up His life freely for us. He is
someone that is so deserving of us making the time in our lives-
through prayer to get to know Him. As a teacher, I always tell my
students, "Your mother, father and friends love you very much, but
no one loves you the way the Lord Jesus does and would be nailed
to a cross for you."
That
takes immense love. Take the time to think about this statement.
The more we spend time with God, the more He will endow us with
the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of God that always comforts us when we are discouraged, always
guides us in God's path for us to make the right decisions, blesses
us with answered prayer, and always reassures us that God is with
us. This should give us joy to know that we can feel the presence
of God all the time within ourselves and need never be frightened
about anything.
The
more our prayer lives are developed, the more we will feel this
working of the Holy Spirit inside ourselves and the more we will
desire the spiritual life with the Lord Jesus Christ rather than
finding our identity through the pleasures and positions of the
world. Also, as we develop our prayer lives, the Holy Spirit will
make us more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ and truly be able
to feel His Kingdom within, as if the Heavenly Eternity has already
begun in our hearts. We must make time each day for prayer and reading
the Holy Bible.
If
there's something we don't understand, we can always talk to our
priest, and if there's an area of our life that we are struggling
in, with prayer God will lead us to the right people and resources
to help us. Wherever you are, God will meet you at that place in
your life and help you. Perhaps there are times you would rather
spend with friends or go on outings rather than spending concentrated
time in prayer; however, anytime you give up anything of this world
for the Lord's sake, you gain so much more than you would have ever
imagined.
We
serve a God who has a very loving and kind heart and who truly desires
to manifest Himself to those who will only give Him some time. You
can't feel the joy of someone unless you are truly close to that
person. This is the transcending peace of God.
Finally,
the peace the Lord gives us is a spiritual knowledge in our
heart about the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. In order to have
this peace, we must always be living our lives with Heaven
in view. The person, who lives with Heaven in view- serves, gives,
encourages, and helps others, as the Lord Jesus did when He was
on earth. For when we live our lives focusing our actions toward
Heaven, we are investing towards our Eternity.
As
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III said, "All man is taking to heaven
is his deeds." One cannot experience this peace unless he
or she is a true child of the Light and has experienced true freedom
from the bonds of the earthly world, which concentrate on getting
instead of giving. For unless the Kingdom of God has meaning for
you and you're not just living life for the pleasures of this present
world, you cannot enjoy God's spiritual inner peace. Unless
you are born again of water and the spirit and your actions reflect
it, you cannot comprehend or enjoy God's peace because you
are still tied to this world.
As
humans we get afraid, just as the disciples were when the Lord Jesus
Christ was going to leave them. However, His peace was going
to be the witness in their hearts that He is always with them. As
God's children, let us rest with this same assurance. We have a
Lord who truly loves all of us!
