“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 14:27
“A World of Happiness in an Ocean of Peace.” That slogan decorated hotels and restaurants across Hawaii in early December of 1941. The island of Oahu was considered remote, safe, and peaceful, where one could live close to the flowers and the warm surf of the Pacific. Most Honolulu residents didn’t lock their doors, and some homeowners hadn’t had keys for years … a world of happiness in an ocean of peace.
… until December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
The world’s peace can disappear very quickly. The world gives peace, but takes it away. Jesus gives us a legacy of lasting peace. Matthew Henry said about John 14:27: “When Christ was about to leave the world He made His will. His soul He committed to His Father; His body He bequeathed to Joseph to be decently interred; His clothes fell to the soldiers; His mother He left to the care of John: but what should He leave to His poor disciples that had left all for Him? Silver and gold He had none; but He left them that which was infinitely better — His peace.”
The peace of the believer is deep, calm, lasting, everlasting. The world, with all its blandishments, cannot give it. The world, with all its fluctuations … cannot take it away.
From an anonymous 1854 devotional book, The Words of Jesus (Turning Point)
