The Peace of Christ: Resting in God's Faithful Love

At the core ... in the inner recesses of the heart ... in the depths of our spirit ... that's where the battle is won or lost. What resides deep within gives birth to everything we say and do. The inside determines the outside.

Which raises the question: what lies in the inner recesses of my/your heart?

It seems to me that one of two realities reigns in the heart: anxiety OR peace, specifically, the peace of Christ.

Anxiety is inherent to our human condition. It is an inner dis-ease with which we live. Anxiety is old fear living beneath the surface of our awareness. It is the fear that we will once again experience the pain we experienced in the past. Anxiety is the lens through which we view all of life. It governs our perception of reality and, thereby, our reactions. In other words, we live in fear, with fear, out of fear. Our lives are driven by fear ... unrecognized, unacknowledged fear called anxiety.

Anxiety is the default setting of our inner life. As the default, it lies outside our awareness. It just is ... an unrecognized dimension of our lives.

Evidence of anxiety's hold on us is readily seen in three places. The first is our emotional reactivity to current events. Social media reflects the polarization and the accompanying attacks of the "other" that have seemingly become the accepted norm in our society. Both the polarization and the attacks are fueled by fear. They are expressed as anger, but anger is the mask fear wears to appear powerful. We as a nation are living out of fear. The anxiety and fear that are on the inside come out in what we say and do. The second indicator of our deep-seated, unrecognized anxiety is our attempts to escape the discomfort and inner dis-ease it stirs. Our lives are filled with busyness, over-commitment, multiple forms of entertainment, and the pursuit of pleasure. The stay-in-place requirements of the pandemic have limited this coping mechanism, increasing our sense of discomfort and the itch to get out. Which gives way to the third indicator of our anxiety: we seldom are still and quiet. I would dare say many of us do not know how to be still or quiet. It's as though we are addicted to always doing something. Even if our bodies are still, our minds are racing with thoughts. Our internal busyness, like our external busyness, points to the dis-ease rooted in our deep-seated anxiety.

Although anxiety is the default setting of our inner world, it is not mark of the follower of Jesus. Anxiety-fueled living is not the way of Jesus. For the follower of Jesus, peace ... inner peace ... God's peace ... the peace of Christ ... displaces anxiety. Such peace positions us to love ... which IS the way of Jesus.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you" (John 14:27). This promise of peace is tied to the gift of the Spirit who live in us (John 14:26). The Spirit guides us into this peace.

Paul spoke of peace as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:21-22). It is what the Spirit produces in our lives. As we keep in step with the Spirit, we access the peace of Christ. Peace, not anxiety, governs the heart. Consequently, we live out of that peace. That peace frees us to love as Jesus loved ... to be patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle in the face of anxiety-producing situations. The Spirit empowers us to respond to others with love rather than react to others out of anxiety, in ways that are self-serving.

Because anxiety is the default setting of our inner life, we have to learn to access and live out of the peace of Christ. It doesn't "just happen."

Jesus pointed to this reality when he promised us his peace. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you ... Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (John 14:27). He spoke of managing our hearts ... of managing the inherent anxiety. The original carries a meaning the English translation does not capture: stop allowing your hearts to be troubled and afraid. "You're doing it; stop it!" (Note the self-awareness!) Anxiety is normal and unavoidable. It is our default setting. But we don't have to live in it. We can move beyond it ... through Spirit-guided self-awareness and self-control.

Paul said the same thing in his letter to the Philippians. "Do not worry about anything" (Philippians 4:6). Again, the original expresses the idea of stop: "stop worrying!" You're doing it; stop! We do not have to live with worry (anxiety). Paul offers an antidote to worry: prayer. "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

Paul speaks of displacing worry (anxiety) with peace ... God's peace. He identified the path to that peace as prayer with thanksgiving. Manage the anxiety (1) by turning your attention away from what is stirring the anxiety, back to God (prayer) and (2) by resting in God's faithful love (thanksgiving - remembering God's faithfulness in the past). (I develop this concept in Chapter 8 of The Fruit of the Spirit: the Path That Leads to Loving as Jesus Love, and in Chapter 19 of Discovering Your True Self: A Guide for the Journey.) We can move beyond anxiety into peace ... through Spirit-guided, Spirit-empowered self-awareness and self-control.

Until we learn how to access and live out of the peace of Christ, unrecognized anxiety will be the spirit out of which we live. It will determine what we do. 

Living out of the peace of Christ, resting in God's faithful love lies at the heart of the spiritual journey. It is a way of living the Spirit is teaching us so that we can love as Jesus loved.