If you haven’t noticed, the world is becoming a very dangerous place once again. Terrorism, assassinations, antisemitism, violence, rage, and hate speech are rampant and highlighted on the news 24/7. In a season that is supposed to promote peace on earth, that is not what most of us are feeling. And yet, Jesus said, “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” (Jn. 14:27).
If we want to live with a sense of peace while the world explodes around us, there are some decisions we need to make. This peace does not come automatically, but comes through obedience to the wisdom of Jesus.
First of all, Jesus directed us to eliminate fear and worry by focusing on the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of men. “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt. 7:31-34).
An old story tells of a man leaving an ancient city and as he walks out, he encounters
Death. He asked Death what he was up to and Death replied, “I’m going to this city to collect lives and take them to the afterlife. The man said, “What a terrible thing!” Death shrugged and replied, “It’s what I do.” Days later, the man was returning and encountered Death again as Death was leaving the city. The man had already heard reports of hundreds and hundreds of people who had died since he left. He scolded Death for all the destruction he had visited on the city and the grief and loss he had produced. Death replied, “Oh, I only came for a few, Fear and Worry got the rest.”
Fear and worry are our enemies. They rob us of peace, health, sleep, joy and fruitfulness. They damage our relationships. Every doctor or research scientist will tell you that stress is our number one enemy. It impacts our physical health, our spiritual health, and our emotional health. Stress comes from worry and fear. And yet the most repeated command is scripture is, “Do not be afraid!” That Is a mindset we discipline ourselves to maintain.
Here are a few verses that can help us lay aside our worry and fear.
Matthew 7:31-34 (quoted above). Choose to focus daily on the kingdom, the power, the faithfulness of God, and his promises for provision and protection. Do not look at what you don’t have but what you do have. Don’t fixate on the prayer yet to be answered, but on all the prayers to which God has already said yes.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Phil. 4:8). Make a choice to think about good things, pure things, praiseworthy things, etc. rather than thinking about the unholy, criminal, violent, perverse things of the world.
This means choosing what you watch on television, listen to on talk radio, and review on social media. This means monitoring your conversations with friends and family. There is a spirit of fear attached to so much of what we hear about on television twenty-four hours a day. That spirit will attach itself to you if you come into agreement with it. It will get into your heart and head and rob you of the blessings that could be yours in Christ. Most of what we see and hear about does not touch us and we cannot affect it except by prayer. I’m not saying we should be totally oblivious to what is going on in the world, but we should not dwell on it. Watch the news briefly, ask the Lord how he wants you to pray about what is going on, pray about it, and release it for the day. Turn your focus to positive things, heavenly things and over time your stress will abate, your health will improve, and you will find joy in life again.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (1 Cor. 10:5-6). Monitoring your thought life and making sure your thoughts are aligned with the teachings and commands of Jesus is the essence of spiritual warfare. When you find yourself entertaining thoughts that are contrary to the Word of God, renounce those thoughts, repent of having come into agreement with them, and command any unclean spirit producing those thoughts to leave you immediately…especially worry and fear.
“Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Col.3:2-3). We spend way too much time thinking about the world and events in the world. Our home is in heaven and we need to discipline ourselves to think often about home: the glory, the joy, the abundant life, the promise of eternal life without disease or loss, our reunion with loved ones, the presence of a perfect Father and a perfect Savior. Paul focused often on heaven and finally said, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christand be found in him” (Phil. 3:7-9).
During this season of Peace on Earth, let me assure you that the peace Jesus spoke of is peace in your heart, not in the world around you. The same peace that Jesus had while sleeping on a sinking boat on Galilee is available to us. It comes from fixing our thoughts on things that produce faith and peace and limiting our time with the things that steal our peace. If married, agree with your spouse to break the old habits of bad news and more bad news. If you are single, agree with a friend. Turn the channel or turn it off. Focus on the good news of Jesus Christ and not the bad news on Fox. Find value in silent nights where we can hear the Lord rather than nights filled with the discouraging noise of the world around us. In just a week, you will feel the difference. Blessings in Him.
