Peace replaces
fear
John 14:27
3/23/20
Pastor John C. Berg
John 14:27 (EHV)
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world
gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be
afraid.
This is your daily devotion for March 23rd. I am craving peace in my life. I feel that to be an effective pastor and a
prepared father and husband I need to be very aware of the news right now. As I’m sure you’ve experienced, checking the
news every hour is not bringing a lot of peace into my life. Just today we found out that our Governor is
self-quarantined, the Lt. Governor’s brother has died from COVID-19, Senator
Klobuchar’s husband is infected, and the Governor of Wisconsin has ordered
Wisconsinites to stay at home. I could
go on but the purpose of these devotions is not to make your afraid. Rather, we are looking at the times and
reasons Jesus told us not to be afraid.
In
John 14 Jesus says, “27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives
do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be
afraid. The peace Jesus offers is not simply a truce. It’s not a negotiated surrender that
inevitably will be broken. It’s not just
flattening the curve. It’s the only peace that lasts.
Jesus says that he doesn’t give as the world gives. The world can give us some good things. Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, the
internet. But the world can’t take the
bad away. Only Jesus can do that. Right now I’m looking at a little 3d printed
figure of Jesus carrying his cross. Of
course Jesus literally did that, but it’s also symbolic of Jesus carrying away
the evil that torments us. He took upon
himself our sins and its consequences.
In its place he gave us peace, the peace of knowing God’s love and
providence. Do not let your heart be
afraid, rather let the peace of God drive away the fear. Amen.
Let’s pray: Jesus, when fear strikes our hearts replace
it with peace, just as you replaced our sins with your righteousness. Amen.
On Saturday I told you I would
share something happy with you each day.
Yesterday’s worship service has been watched on Youtube 102 times and it
has reached 591 people on Facebook. God
is working amazing things through this crisis.
Stay safe in God’s peace!
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