My peace I leave with you...

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 (NKJV)

I can't seem to move away from John 14-17 in my Bible reading. I don't know precisely why. It hasn't been that I cannot look elsewhere in Bible reading and study, because I have been all over, but for some reason I continually return to these chapters of comfort and assurance constantly over the past six months. There are so many nuggets of joy, of peace, or assurance. It feels so very intimate. Jesus talking to His friends just before He leaves them. Giving them all of these wonderful promises and gifts that they don't even understand why they will need. But I need them. There is so much deep intimacy and love to be had as we seek after Christ. The peace of Christ is given to us, not as the world gives. The world always seems to want something back, something in return, some favor for future redemption. Peace, as the world can provide, has a cost, is merely a delay of oncoming conflict. Christ's peace is deeper, rooted in who He is and who we are to Him.

I love the promise of a Comforter. I don't allow the Holy Spirit to comfort me. I don't allow myself to see Him as such. First as a Person and second as a Person who sees what goes on inside and out and wants me to realize that my sole and entire need is for Him. There is a sort of self-forgetfulness about peace, realizing that the peace is rooted in Christ forces me to look at where I am in order to receive and live in that peace. What a comforting statement Christ makes upon discussion of the ruler of this world: "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." (John 14:30) Then I realize that I am in Him. The place that God has put me in Christ is a place where no evil can touch me because our enemy has nothing in Christ and that is where I am. (John 17:20-23; Eph. 1:3-14) What a blessing! These words wash over my mind and enrich every moment of my life.