God's Glory Church

We all want to live in peace, but the world around us will not arise on its own. If you look at it, peace in the family, in society and at the level of countries and peoples begins with peace in the heart of a particular person. And if building peace throughout the world sounds akin to a utopia, then achieving peace in our hearts is already much closer to us, and it sounds much more real to us.

But how can this be implemented in practice? How can we have peace in our hearts if there is none in the country in which we live, if there is none in the family in which we spend most of our time? And if he is not even at our work, and relationships with friends have gone wrong, what should we do in this case?

Here it is very appropriate to look at one very important piece of advice from the Apostle Peter:“… avoid evil and do good; seek and pursue peace…”(1 Peter 3:11). It turns out that peace can be found, but you can lose it, you can strive for it, but you can, on the contrary, deliberately destroy it.
We have already talked about this, but I think it is important to repeat it – peace in our hearts can only arise as a result of reconciliation with the Lord. God is the giver of peace, and we are the recipients! But at the same time, there is our part, and the Apostle Peter speaks about this: we must stop doing something, and consciously strive for something. Jesus left us peace, but we can either accept it and have it in our hearts, or refuse and accept the counterfeit that this world offers:“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you.” (John 14:27)

Therefore, the first thing we must do is to preserve the peace that the Lord has given us: “The fruit of righteousness in peace is sown to those who keep peace.” (James 3:18) The world can be lost to us, or it can become fertile soil for the growth of many good fruits in our lives. Therefore, it is so important to cherish it and not allow it to be stolen from us by vanity or the devil through various difficult circumstances in our lives.
Second, we are called to increase and maintain the peace given to us through the knowledge of Christ and God’s will for our lives: “… grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.” (2 Peter 1:2) The world itself cannot be in a static state; it either multiplies or is lost by us. This is why it is so important for us not to simply waste the peace we have received – God wants us to consciously increase it through the knowledge of what He wants to do in our lives.
Third, we must, on our part, make every effort to ensure that our values ​​and understanding of the world from God are not replaced by the values ​​of this world: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father.” (1 John 2:15) Misunderstanding or misperception of what this world intends to mean by “peace and comfort” in life can lead even a believer far from the peace that God provides. That is why the Apostle John exhorts not to love this world and not to cling to the concepts that it is trying to impose on the church and believers. After all, in fact, God’s presence and peace are not at all where people in this world sometimes look for it, and you and I sometimes try to find it there, but we never find it.

“For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
Is it really possible to have peace in your heart in the midst of the most unfavorable circumstances – yes, it is real! It is only important to accept peace from God, preserve it, increase it and not allow the values ​​of this world to steal it from our hearts.