A Peace Transcending Understanding

Let’s discuss peace; that quality of mind and heart people search long, high and low for, but so often don’t find. True peace cannot be found as if we could find it by searching. True peace—a peace that transcends our understanding—can only be acquired through the gifting of God’s Holy Spirit.

There is a peace that transcends our understanding.

This peace we can take anywhere.

It’s a loving peace we can be thankful for, in Jesus’ name.

Peace is like a butterfly,

Let it come, be our guest,

By peace we identify,

With a state of soul at rest.

Such rest in peace is an outcome. It comes after we have obeyed God. Such peace is a product.

The Peace That Is Product

As people, we often make the mistake by searching for peace in the wrong areas or ways of living. Peace is not something we find by seeking it out. Peace comes as a product of the virtuous work we put into play within our lives.

As we sow into the work of God—which is the opposite of our natural inclination—by sowing into other people, we gain a gift we could not receive otherwise. Or, by our surrender before God, as we note the provision of grace over our lives, the Lord gives us peace.

This gift is the peace of the Lord—a peace transcending our understanding.

No matter what comes into our lives in an attempt to disrupt this peace, well that falls short; this peace that transcends our understanding is not easily perturbed, disrupted, or dissolved. It’s a superior peace.

It’s a peace we cannot, of our own, procure.

A Peace That Cannot Be Bought

We cannot buy a gift for ourselves; we can only buy gifts for others. Likewise, only God can buy this gift of peace for us. And the Father did that two millennia ago.

So if we accept that the thing we want most of all—to live happily peaceful lives—is obtainable only through the obedience of faith to enter into others’ lives through love, we will do that.

The common tragedy of life, however, is we only realise the truth of a peace that transcends our understanding serendipitously. By that I mean, we find out by accident; usually as a product of deep suffering. And that is an important gospel message.

What often appears to be the end of life itself, can, through faith in God, be the most wonderful beginning. This most wonderful beginning is punctuated by a solemn and resilient peace that transcends our understanding.

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Peace comes as a new beginning, when Christ comes into our lives through the Holy Spirit. No matter what comes against us, this smooth vein of tranquillity pervades our souls. We still feel, but a gentle hopeful strength persists through us.

With a peace that transcends understanding we are, now, free to live.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.