Jon Allen

Peace can be an elusive prey. Turmoil and difficulties on the other hand are quite easy to find. Even in this season of Christmas and New Year’s when there is opportunity to find peace and even hope, the pressures of this world press in on us.

Christmas can bring hope and peace to many, but to some the season can be an even more difficult time of year as we remember loved ones we’ve lost and struggles faced. And whether it’s a peaceful time or a tumultuous time for you, “normal life” is on its way back bringing all its victories and defeats. And as we hear the impending footsteps of day-to-day pressures trying to sneak back into our homes, where do we find peace?  

This all sounds so dark and ominous but it doesn’t need to be so. The truth is we can find peace every day if we choose. Sure, there are going to be days of struggle, bad news and battles, but even in the worst of circumstances, we can find peace.

Where we go wrong is where we look for peace. A few years ago I was hunting antelope with friends. During our hunt, a hunt where it was difficult to find our prey, we happened across a game warden. As we visited with the warden, a friend told him that there were simply no antelope to be seen. The game warden quickly retorted that there were plenty of antelope to be seen. We were just looking in the wrong place for them, after which he pointed us in the right direction. 

It’s the same for us as we look for peace. Peace is there, we must simply look in the right place for it. We must look to the author of peace and seek Jesus for our peace. For it is within the relationship with the creator and savior of our world that we can find peace. It is in seeking him that we find it. And when we do, the worries of this world fade to the background.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

We can experience God’s peace. Soak that in for a moment. We can have peace from the one who created and established peace. This can be had within a relationship with him.  

Sometimes we think of prayer as an elevated and out of reach event meant only for the ultra spiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth. Prayer is simply a conversation between the created and the creator. This in itself sounds a little ominous, but it isn’t. God looks for it and even longs for it. He loves his children and seeks time with us.

Prayer is a conversation between those in relationship. God has called us to be in relationship with him through the blood of Jesus and within that relationship we have been given the opportunity to seek God out in prayer.

When we do, and when we turn our worries over to him, peace is the result. God’s peace that is more than we can even imagine can be ours. We just need to look in the right place.  

We can’t depend on our circumstances, friends, or family for lasting peace. They will fail us at times. But God never will. As we look to him for peace, we will find it, every time.  

So, when life gets difficult and the pressures of life wear you down, look to God and find the peace you so desperately need. 

(Jon Allen is the associate pastor of Grace Point in Powell.)