Why we lack peace

I have been in a season of life where I feel the need for peace. Peace of mind. Peace of heart. Peace. Just peace.

PEACE.

The absence of strife, dissension, anxiety, and worry. The presence of serenity and tranquility.

PEACE.

You too? I can only imagine how these words are resonating with many of you. We don’t need to be in a crazy, chaotic, stressful season of life to need or want peace. We were built for it. We were designed to live in it and know it as our reality. Because we are children of God.

We were never intended to not know peace, to live outside of experienced peace. But we do. We all do. Many of us could hardly imagine what life would look like if it were “absent of strife, dissension, anxiety, and worry; if it were present with serenity and tranquility.” We’ve simply learned to live in the tension of peace-less lives.

But we were never intended to.

So, why do you think we so often lack peace? It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit. It’s something that God desires for us all to know and have. It’s a benefit of being in Christ. So, why do we lack it?

Allow me to suggest to you today just one reason. Are you ready for this?

We lack peace because we refuse God’s authority in our lives.

That sounds somewhat extreme, does it not? Some of you reading these words would call yourself a devout Christian, and many of us are. Still, there is a bent toward sin within each and every one us, a bent that lies to us, deceives us, and causes us to rely on self-sufficiency over Christ-sufficiency. In every area that we do not invite the Lord to be Lord over our lives, from the biggest to the smallest area, we live unrighteous lives, thus forfeiting our peace.

When God is Lord over a life, He is the one who reigns. He is sovereign. He isn’t competing for control. And that life knows peace. It’s when we wrestle with God over the stuff of our lives, allowing Him into parts but not the whole, giving Him reign over certain things but not all, this is when we find ourselves lacking peace.

“And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” Isaiah 32:17

I have the word “rest” written next to that verse in my Bible. Why? Because when we walk in this kind of righteousness (right living according to God’s standards, not man’s), the result is peace. Peace affords rest. What an incredibly beautiful picture for us to see this morning and to be motivated by.
I want peace.
I need peace.
I imagine you do as well. So, let’s submit to God’s authority over our lives, in all matters, over all things. Let’s choose righteous living over the standards that this worlds sets for us. I promise you, it will be worth it. You just can’t put a price tag on peace, can you?