God isn’t worried about it, so why should you be?
Are you giving your peace away?
Peace is in short supply nowadays. There isn’t a lot of peace today between countries, between political parties, or between races.
Perhaps the greatest loss of peace we face is the loss of “inner peace” that so many people are lacking because of the turmoil that comes from just being alive.
There are many events in our individual lives that are peace-stealers: family conflicts, problems with our jobs, money problems, health issues…the list seems endless.
When we lose peace…we worry. When I worry, I “catastrophize,” which is taking a small worry and blowing it out of proportion until I reach the worst-case scenario.
For example, I think:
I lost a good client
I’m never going to replace them
I’ll run out of money in a matter of weeks
My wife will leave me
I’ll be homeless
I’ll be panhandling to get money to eat
And on and on and on my mind goes, taking me down into places that I don’t need to go, worrying about things that aren’t going to happen. At that moment, my peace is gone.
The big peace stealer: social media
One of the great peace stealers of our time is social media, including news feeds.
Author Brant Hansen writes,
“And how many times do we exchange our peace for the chance to read the latest news headlines and then everyone’s commentary on said news stories? Many of us would apparently rather have that than peace. We’d rather doomscroll through social media than have peace. We’d rather nurse our anger than have peace. We’re trading in the gift of a lifetime for . . . that?”
Nobody can steal your peace. You have to give it away.
When I realize that I’m worrying and letting my inner peace slip away, I try and picture God sitting on His throne with a look of serenity on His face. He is peaceful all of the time because He isn’t worried about how things are going to turn out. He already knows.
Here’s a great question that Brant Hansen poses, “…if you could choose only one word to describe Him, what would you choose?” He continues, “Dallas Willard, a very wise, extraordinarily learned man who I keep quoting, picked a word that still has me thinking. Of all the words at his disposal, he picked this: Relaxed.”
Have you ever thought of God as relaxed? I know I haven’t, but it makes sense to me. I know I wouldn’t want a nervous, worried God, and according to the Bible, I don’t have one. He’s in control…everything is going to turn out okay.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be concerned about things that are troubling you; I’m saying not to worry about them. There’s a mountain of difference between concern and worry.
I leave you with John 6:33 when Jesus told his disciples,
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
That’s good enough for me.
