“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

These are words spoken by Jesus to his disciples. It isn’t long at this point in the gospel until he is crucified and he is preparing his disciples for that event. The verses around this one are full of things he wants to impart before he goes. Really important things like the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Here Jesus says he will be leaving “my peace”, his peace with them. Not “Peace” stop but Jesus own peace. This is something different from the peace you find in the bath for 10 minutes, or in the car, or on a walk. This is a special kind of peace. It is not a peace as the world gives.

There is a story of a young girl traveling on a train in 1940. The train should be taking her, her mum and sisters from Calais to relative safety near Paris. It’s 1940 and the Luftwaffe are dropping bombs trying to destroy railway links, they are bombing Calais where the BEF is held up desperately trying to reach England. However, the train is not heading for Paris, it’s been turned back to Calais to carry urgent orders to the British and French troops trapped there. The people on the train are afraid, there is crying and screaming the train is being buffeted by explosions that seem dreadfully near. And yet, the girl and her sister are calm, relaxed, at peace! One of the other passengers asks her Pourquoi êtes-vous si détendu., why are you so relaxed. She replies: I’m not afraid because my Dad is the engineer, he’s driving the train, and I know he will get us there safely, why would I worry.

We are called into the world, to serve Jesus amongst all the hard and difficult challenges of being human. It’s even harder than that we are called to strive for a higher standard, obedience to Jesus above all else. That’s not easy!!

One of the great advantages we have is Jesus Peace. We can find peace of mind, peace of heart, peace of the soul whenever and wherever we are because he gifted that to us.

Jesus peace is available to us, his disciples, 24/7 we need only submit ourselves into the arms of God; who truly loves us, and we can receive an inner peace!

Hope you all have a great few days, see you soon 😊

Carhart !