how to walk with peace when you don’t want to keep going
In John 16, Jesus is preparing His disciples for His crucifixion, resurrection, and ultimately His ascent to the Father.
Take a moment and think about the things you would tell your closest friends if you knew you were about to die a tragic, humiliating death. I would probably say something like, “Go home so that you don’t see a thing. This is not your fault. I love you. Now, go and hide.” But what we see from Jesus is not a scared, hushed “be careful” as he heads out the door. His claim is massive and beautiful: You might even leave me on the way to the cross, but my Father never will. The world is ugly and you will experience its brokenness. But I am with you every step of the way. He prepares them by telling them that for being His disciple they would come across conflicts and trouble. We know this because the perfect Son of God even experienced this ridicule. This Kingdom that He has made a way for us to enter is beyond the understanding of the world. And they don’t like what they can’t understand, especially if it doesn’t feel good. We know that if the Son of God was ridiculed for proclaiming truth, then so will we.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” — John 16:33
The trouble is promised as we interact with a broken world, but so is our eternal inheritance of joy and love and peace. This peace only comes from fellowship with Christ. This peace does not come from success or money, other’s affirmation, self-help, or becoming one with your body. It comes from Christ. My ESV study Bible explains that peace, the Hebrew word shalom, “had a much richer connotation than the English word does since it conveyed not merely the absence of conflict and turmoil but also the notion of positive blessing, especially in terms of a right relationship with God. This may be manifested most clearly amid persecution and tribulation…” This means that He doesn’t just want our lives to be rid of annoyances and persecution, but He wants us to experience blessing regardless of the circumstance. This is the better way, friends, because He won’t leave us in a neutral state of living. Rather, He wants us to be close with Him experiencing every blessing as His child. Worldly friction has a way of knocking off everything that distracts us from this Kingdom reality in our lives and creates clarity so that we have the space in our hearts to worship.
This past year has brought about so much of that friction in our hearts, lives, churches, and cities. Our gut reaction is to take any semblance of control into our lives. We aren’t walking steadily, and we want so badly to feel something solid under our feet. We will find leverage and control, even if that’s through stocking up on Lysol wipes and letting our opinion be known on Twitter. We take on anger by pushing against someone who believes differently than us. We take on the character of fear as we look at rampant violence and say, “This is how it always will be.” and we hide. I have taken on all of these emotions instead of the joy of abiding with Christ, and I can tell you that it does not satisfy. It makes us feel superior to others for awhile - I know so much more about this new virus than they do. It makes us feel safe momentarily - nothing and nobody can hurt me now. It might make us feel cool and untouchable, because if we act like this is how it’s always going to be, our hopes won’t ever be let down. I have thought about giving up and going off the grid as if that will give me peace. He knew we would try to find comfort in the world, and He knew that His way was the only way to find true fulfillment for our hearts. In a world that turns to anger, control and fear in seasons of trouble, we get to embody the true Hope of the world.
Church, it is time to come out of hiding, to live unafraid, and to bear the compassion of Christ.
Because the truth is that in Christ we have the wildest and truest hope of all time. We are walking miracles! We have redeemed hearts with transformational stories of joy, forgiven sin, and have found the secret to abundant life! Yet, what I see are these redeemed hearts walking with their heads down in defeat and distraction. The Christian’s laughter has been deafened by the swirl of events in the world. We are walking around with numb limbs from wounds we haven’t treated from the past year. Self-care culture tells us to take all the time we need to put ourselves back together, but this is the truth — we’ve got to take care of us and claim the healing we need, because there is a hurting world around us that needs God. We have Him, His Word, and access to His Spirit - so tend the wounds that allow you to share Him with abandon.
I know that it is hard to know how to go on. But that’s why Jesus came with this message - He knew we wouldn’t want to keep going. So, right here in John 16 He reminds us: You think that your peace rests on the shoulders of the seen world around you and your hope deflates. But you can rejoice because the last word with Me will always be victory.
We’ve been shown over and over again in the Word that God has a perfect schedule and power that doesn’t play by the rules of our finite minds. We forget that His overcoming is a reality that is yet to be fully seen but is no less real. Somehow in the midst of 2020’s shattering after effects, we have forgotten that God Himself walks before us. Because so often what we reach for in the world (comfort, belonging, identity) has already been promised to us tenfold in the Kingdom. The Spirit of God rests within our hearts and is able to replace our timidity with Christ’s resurrection power. And because He walks before us, my friends, we don’t just fight with bruised hands and tired feet. We fight with heart. We can keep our eyes from doom scrolling, our mouths from speaking words of defeat that partner with the enemy’s schemes, and our hearts from submitting to the lie that this world is beyond redemption.
Jesus’ note to the disciples before His death and resurrection ends in triumph! And His last words before His ascent were spoken in the same way.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:18-20
This is a commission for the unafraid, compassionate church. This bride of Christ isn’t clenching for control of the world, because their hope is secure in the One who said He is coming back for her. We are a people that have gone through heartbreaking realities, but that does not negate the Great Commission before us. He didn’t tell us to seek shelter and talk badly about those that don’t know better - He said to go and show them how good He is. What the world so badly needs is not behavior control, but in more and more people coming to know the graciousness of our Savior through the way that we live - with heart. We keep going through the carpool lane, through the church hallways, and into our offices knowing that our efforts are not in vain. We keep going not because we pulled ourself together in our own strength, but because we know the closeness of His Spirit that empowers us to run forward. We fight for the hearts of the lost and the lukewarm knowing that the story ends in triumph.
He is making all things new.
Will you join Him in the restoration? Will you dare to look up, surrender clenched fists for uplifted hands, and declare the wildest hope the world has ever known?
