“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”

It’s just unbelievable what advertisers claim in American television commercials to sell their products.  But then I forget that almost exclusively, they are pagans marketing products paganly to largely a pagan audience.  Now what do I mean by that?  Precisely this: marketing in the market place is dominated by unbelievers worshiping the ‘holy dollar’.  Translated, the more the sales, the better off is the seller.  Let’s take an example.  One motivation I’ve heard dozens of time is that if you buy such-and-such a product or use such-and-such a service, you’ll have “peace of mind” or “peace of heart”.  I don’t know how TV commercials are in other countries, but in the States, this is a huge selling point and an overly abused marketing angle.  Everything from deodorant to your pest control service to your stockbroker to bladder control medication to whatever, will give you piece of mind.

John 14:27 gives us a telling insight about such peace: “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”.  Notice the little caveat in the middle, “I do not give to you as the world gives”.  That begs the question, how does Jesus’ giving differ from the world’s giving?  Well, what Jesus gives is eternal, as in eternal life, for example.  Ditto with his peace.  Notice the past tense in John 16:33, “I have told you these things so that you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world”.  See that?  Jesus has already overcome the world.  It’s over, history, kaput.  What Jesus does lasts forever.  Not so with the world and how it gives, which is temporarily and/or inconsistently.  What could be more troubling than when your deodorant fails, the exterminator uses ineffective insect spray, your stock broker runs off with your investments or the drug company waters down your bladder control medication, making it useless while still charging you?  Talk about trouble!  On top of that, there goes your “peace” too.

My gripe with many believers is that far too many of us bring this pagan definition of peace to the Bible and use it to define its words.  Today Christians describe peace almost exclusively in terms of their personal happiness and prosperity.  I have “peace in my heart” because the bills are paid, my investments are doing well, my kid is student of the month at school (or inmate of the month at the county jail!), God is leading me, or whatever.  In our day we have virtually privatized and personalized peace to the extent that it is only an inward experience that seems no different than what people doing eastern mediation describe as a result of their practices.  This is not only dangerous, it is also imbalanced and patently unbiblical.

The idea of peace in the New Testament is an outgrowth of the shalom in the Old.  Shalom is the standard word for “hello”, “goodbye” and “peace” in Hebrew.  As such, it represented what the world was all too short of and longed for: peace.  When greeting and goodbyeing each other, shalom meant a blessing to one another from God, who himself is peace (Romans 16:20, Philippians 4:9, etc.).  That God has a Son who is the Prince of Peace, and “of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:6, 10).  It was that government, that “kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 3:2, etc.), that Jesus preached.  In fact, “he came and preached peace to you [Gentiles] who were far away and peace to those [Jews] who were near” (Ephesians 2:17).  No wonder that on the night of Messiah’s birth, “a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:13-14). Jesus was God’s emissary of peace on earth, announcing the kingdom of peace.  But the Jews thoroughly and violently rejected that kingdom and that peace.  Thus, all that was left for people was getting a “piece” of God’s peace through the gospel message preached to the nations in general and individuals in particular.  What believers enjoy today of God’s peace is simply a part of the government that’s coming, that will be established here, because, to quote Isaiah, it’s still increasing.  So to reduce and minimize God’s peace to us as only an internal, experiential feel-good moment or moments is just plain wrong.  Granted, those moments are part of it, but only a very small part.  God’s kingdom and government of peace is on its way!  And one day it will envelope the whole world.  Get your mind around that.  What Jesus gives and how he gives is patently not like the world gives!

Have you fallen prey to slick “peace of mind” marketing?  Or is your peace rooted in the ever-increasing kingdom of God’s peace that will one day take over the world?  Can others see his peace in you?