Attaining Christ's Peace

Peace: a holistic sense of well-being - personally, relationally, and globally - rooted in the redemptive work of God.

Who here wants peace in their lives?

This Christmas season, we reflect on Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7), who, in his incarnation, has begun the process of peace through redemption (Luke 2:13-15).

We live in the tension of that redemptive process, and peace can be elusive.

Just the word “tension” robs peace for many of us.

How do we navigate the already-not-yet tension of redemption and find peace?

To help answer this question, it will be helpful if you answer this question:

What is my mind focused on?

This question takes some reflection. A way to help with that is to analyze it through your daily schedule.

What is your mind focused on in your morning routine?

What is your mind focused on in your work routine?

What is your mind focused on in your evening routine?

For each part of our day, there is a surface focus and an underlying focus.

The surface focus is what is directly in front of us. For example, at work, it would be the different tasks you have for the day, or in the morning, it would be getting dressed, making coffee, or having a devotional time, or in the evening, it might be resting or spending time with your family.

Surface focus is easy to identify and good to think about; however, it is our underlying focus that cultivates the peace of God in our hearts.

Isaiah 26 sheds light on this question of our focus, bringing us peace, especially in verses 3 and 4.

Isaiah 26:3–4 ESV

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Here we have the promise of perfect peace for the one whose mind is stayed on Jesus because he or she trusts in Jesus.

For example, by God’s grace, I often wake up with a song to God, a passage, or a theological idea on my mind; this is my underlying focus of being with God and trusting him, which often sticks with me through the day, thus having the peace of Christ rule in my heart (Colossians 3:15).

In contrast, I may wake up not feeling well, which triggers thinking about everything wrong in my life and everyone else's. I can easily carry this underlying focus through the day, which quickly causes dissatisfaction with God and mistrust, thus stealing the peace of Christ.

I might also wake up thinking of all the things I have to do, all the people God has given me to care for, and how inadequate I am to accomplish it all. Carrying this underlying focus overwhelms me and kills motivation, thus stealing the peace of Christ.

What is the underlying focus of your mind? Ask the Holy Spirit to show it to you.

If you identify it, then by the power of the Holy Spirit you are able to cultivate an underlying focus stayed on Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

If you are unaware of the underlying focus, then there is no opportunity for the Holy Spirit to change it. Being unaware makes Christ's peace even more elusive.

We cultivate a healthy underlying focus when we bring our unhealthy underlying focuses captive by bringing them before the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help (2 Corinthians 10:5; Hebrews 4:14-16).

In this process, we will be tempted to agree with the accuser by judging and condemning ourselves, or think we are stupid because we keep struggling with unhealthy focuses. Those actions actually perpetuate an unhealthy underlying focus.

So instead, let us choose to focus on forgiveness and the mercy and grace to help in our time of need. In doing so, we begin to cultivate the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts, for it is through his work of redemption that peace comes to us in the tension in which we live.

I wish this were a once-and-done event, but it is not.

This is a daily discipline of walking with Jesus through day-to-day life.

We all will go through seasons where we do well with this, and we will go through seasons where we fail miserably.

The good news is that God’s grace is sufficient for both seasons. If you are in a season of failure, keep running to him; it will not last forever. Also, you can change that season more quickly by identifying unhealthy underlying focuses and bringing them before the throne of grace to receive the mercy and grace you need.

Go with your mind stayed on Jesus, having his peace rule in your heart.