Seeking Peace (Psalm 34:14)

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it - Psalm 34:14

What does it mean to seek peace? How do we do this? What does it practically look like?

When it comes to peace, the old adage holds true: "it's not what you know, it's who you know."

Seeking after peace will look radically different depending on whether or not a person knows Jesus - the Prince of Peace.

Sure, there are many strategies and techniques our world gives us to tackle anxiety and acquire peace, some of which include:

• breathing exercises

• meditation

• medication

• affirmation

• therapy

To be clear, none of these things are bad. In fact many can be quite helpful.

But none are the answer to anxiety, and none can ever hope to offer genuine, lasting peace.

Jesus on the other hand offers unconditional peace that transcends understanding and exists completely independent of our circumstances. If we want peace, we must go straight to the Source.

Once we receive His peace, there is nothing we can do to earn more of it, and there is nothing we can do to lose it. It exists within us whether we feel it or not. Whether we think it or not. Whether we believe it or not.

If there was a way to work toward this divine peace, then Jesus needn't have died on the Cross for our sake. He could have just handed down to us a twelve step program, an eight fold path, or a set of laws inscribed in stone.

No. There is no step by step process to receive this peace, because it originates from outside of time and space.

This peace only comes from knowing Him. It comes from being still and knowing that He is God. It comes when our eyes have so widely opened to the incomprehensible beauty of the Cross that the very concept of anxiety loses all meaning.

This peace comes not by shifting our circumstances. It comes by shifting our focus - from ourselves to Him. For when our consciousness has been flooded by His light, and our hearts have been pierced by His love, perfect peace follows just as surely as day follows night.

I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world - John 16:33