How to Get Peace (Even If You're Having a Really Bad Day)

Do you ever have one of those days?

You know, those days when nothing goes right. You make a big mistake at work. You get into a fight with your wife. Someone cuts you off in traffic. Your dog pees on the carpet.

Lara Cores (CC)



All of these little things keep adding up until you reach your breaking point. You just want to escape. You just want to lie down for a minute.


You just want peace.

But you can’t lie down. You’ve got emails to answer, bills to pay, and mouths to feed.


Why Don't We Have Peace?

Around Christmas you hear the word "peace" tossed around quite a bit; the new King is coming, and He will bring peace on earth. The source material for this peace is the prophet Isaiah:


For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6


But if Jesus who has come, died, was buried, and raised (amen) has already fulfilled the prophecy, why is it then that we so often seem to be lacking in peace?

Why isn’t life roses and gumdrops when we turn to Christ?


Was Isaiah Wrong?

Jesus dispelled any notion of peace in its conventional form:

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household."
Matthew 10:34-36

So was Isaiah wrong when he called the messiah the “Prince of Peace”? Was Micah wrong when he said the savior would “be our peace” (5:5)? Were the angels incorrect when they sang “on earth, peace” (Luke 2:14)?

In actuality Jesus wasn’t contradicting the prophets, but instead trying to redefine the word for those who dared to follow him. “Peace” for Jews during the first century meant freedom from Caesar. It meant political sovereignty. Independence.

But God takes a much longer and broader view.

Notice what Jesus says: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.” Those last three words are critical. He doesn’t say that He didn’t come to bring peace, just not on earth.

So if not on earth, where?

The peace that Christ brought came in the Spiritual realm. He came to reconcile man to God that we might have everlasting peace. Political peace is temporary.

Jesus said he came to bring a sword. What does a sword do but divide?

Jesus brought a blade and used it to draw a line in the ground. By his death you can freely receive grace, but you must choose which side you’re on.

When you choose Jesus, you will receive peace. Just not in the conventional form.

You will still have those awful days that make you want to cry or worse: give up. But take heart. The bad things in life remind us that there is good. They remind us that this world is fallen.

That it is diseased.

And though Christ didn't come to bring peace to the earth, a day is coming when we will have eternal peace with Him in heaven.



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