“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” – John 14:26–27

Is world peace a feat global leaders can ever usher us into? Several global bodies have made it a goal to drive world peace campaigns over the last 50 to 70 years. But how successful have those campaigns been? How peaceful is the world today? The world has seen several wars, World War I and World war 11, Hitlers massacre of the Jews, Rwanda’s Genocides among others. One will think that with all that has happened over the last decades and centuries, humans might have learned enough to abstain from conflicts and wars. However, that is not what we see today. Russia is fighting Ukraine,Israel is fighting Palestine. In 2024,we are farther away from global peace than we have ever been in the last 20 years.

Jesus’s message “my peace I leave with you” was an admission that only in him can we find peace and that only in him can the World achieve global peace. The peace of God is one that calms the heart, it is a state of complete stillness even in difficulty, he who has the peace of God abhors violence and it’s not moved to war as many global leaders have been.

The peace of God looks like sleeping through a storm. It looks like restoring the chopped ear of an enemy, it looks like feeding 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fishes. It is no surprise that moments preceding Jesus’s crucifixion, peace is what he gave his disciples, peace the world cannot give, because He is the Prince of Peace.

While we reflect on Christ’s crucifixion and what it brought to us, may we reflect on his office as our Prince of Peace and the blessing he gave us in our verse for today, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”.

I pray that,our heart can fully grasp this blessing and that we will be empowered to walk in this light.