Are you ready for some good news?
God came in Christ to restore peace. You can enjoy peace that passes all understanding because of what Christ has done for you.
Ever since the fall of humanity into sin there has been a competition between the peace that comes with understanding and the peace that passes understanding.
Adam and Eve had perfect peace with God, with one another, and within their own souls. But there were two trees in the garden and the serpent lured the man and woman into a grave lie: You’ll be more blessed and enhance your peace by trying to understand the things that only God can understand. Eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Understand more and you’ll have more peace.
And so they ate, falling into sin and forfeiting the peace that passes all understanding as they tried to eat their way into peace that comes with understanding. They lost the sweetness of a peace of heart looking for peace of the intellect.
The human yearning for peace with understanding continued after Adam and Eve ate the wrong tree. Cain couldn’t understand why Abel’s offering was more pleasing to God, so he killed his brother. The murder was born in the yearning for peace with understanding: “I’ll make sense of life. I’ll do away with those who threaten my self-worth. I’ll make sense of it all.”
Don’t get me wrong. Our beautiful, rational minds were made in the image of God. It’s wonderful to think, to learn, to observe, to plan, to build for security. These instincts aren’t bad. They’re good instincts. But our learning, planning and building have never been God’s plan for our peace.
Two texts stand out when I think of God’s kind of peace:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:27, ESV)
“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6–7, ESV)
Christ came to restore peace with God, with one another and within our souls. He came to give a peace that doesn’t depend on what your mind knows but what your heart apprehends. His perfect love casts out fear and leaves your heart with peace that passes understanding. And that’s the Gospel!
