A Christian's search for peace
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At some point, most people long for peace. Occasionally it comes after years of achieving one goal after another. Sometimes it comes after fighting the same old battles long enough to conclude, “I guess that’s just the way I am.”
That search can begin in a person whose life looks fine from the outside. The bills are paid. The family is doing well. The work is rewarding. Yet underneath all of that, the soul is restless. Something still feels lacking; there is no peace.
Part of the problem is that we often misunderstand peace. We tend to think of it as a condition we can create by making the right changes to our lives. We hear people talk about a time of peace or a place of peace. The Bible paints a very different picture of how we actually find peace in our lives.
Scripture presents peace as the result of a life being brought under the rule of Christ. It is received from God, and it grows as we walk more closely with Him. It comes from the Spirit, helping us to put sin to death and practice the life Christ taught us by the example He set for us. (A Christian's search for peace)
Peter gives us a warning about these matters in 1 Peter 2:11. He tells believers to abstain from sinful desires because they wage war against the soul. Sin is harmful even when well managed. It still works against the life God is growing in us.
That does not mean every anxious Christian should assume there must be some secret sin behind their lack of peace. Life can be cruel at times. A person can be faithful to Christ and still carry a heavy burden. But Scripture makes clear that sin disturbs the soul, and we should honestly admit when that is part of the problem.
Paul describes that kind of struggle in Romans 7:14–25. He wants what is morally good but still does what he knows is wrong. And if Paul struggles with it, anyone can.
“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that is at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The struggle should challenge us to grow stronger in our faith, but it should not drive us to despair when we fall short of the mark. The grief a Christian feels over sin is often a sign that grace is doing its work in him. The old life may still pull at him, but it no longer suits him as it once did.
Paul gives us the next step in Romans 8:12–13. He tells believers that if, by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. It’s the next step toward finding true peace.
The phrase “put to death” comes from the Greek verb thanatoō. It means to kill, decisively. One modern-day cliché might make a good translation: “Kill it with fire.” Paul is not talking about keeping sin under better control. He is talking about killing the part of our being that belongs to the old life before Christ.
The words “by the Spirit” are central to our only hope for getting this done. We are called to act, but the strength comes from God. We can only overcome sin because Christ has claimed us, and His Spirit is at work in us. If we prayerfully and sincerely ask for the help of the Spirit, He will show us the way and provide us the strength. And if we want peace, that’s what we have to do.
John Owen wrote, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.” That line expresses it directly. Sin does not become safe because we have learned to keep it in a cage. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes this struggle as “a continual and irreconcilable war.”
Owen also warned that sin left alone weakens the soul and darkens our comfort and peace. Sin brings darkness. God brings sin into the light because He is leading us away from what harms us.
Paul says in Galatians 5:16–25 that the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh.
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Peace is something God grows in His people as they learn to walk by the Spirit.
When Paul says that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, that does not mean old desires never trouble us again. It means they no longer have the power to rule us—unless we let them.
That should encourage Christians who get frustrated by how long the battle lasts. The presence of conflict does not mean God is absent. It means the old life is being overcome by the new life God has placed within us.
Colossians 3:5–17 gives a practical picture of how that new life evolves. First, Paul tells believers to get rid of what belongs to the earthly nature.
“You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
Then Paul gives us the only true path to peace.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.”
John Calvin called this process mortification and vivification and used those terms to describe the work of repentance. Mortification means putting the old life to death. Vivification means being made alive in the new life God gives. The Christian life is about both casting things off and taking things up.
When Paul says in Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,” the word translated “rule” is brabeuō. It carries the idea of deciding or directing, like an umpire.
The peace of Christ is not just a feeling that comes when life becomes easier. It is meant to govern the heart. It takes more and more control as the believer puts away the old life and learns to walk in the new one.
Paul gives us a beloved teaching about peace in Philippians 4:6–9. He tells believers to bring their requests to God with thanksgiving, and he says “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Then he calls them to reflect on what is true and to practice what they have received.
That passage is loved because of its promise. God’s peace guards the heart and mind in Christ. But Paul does not separate that promise from prayer, gratefulness, truthful thought, and obedience.
Peace is not a fresh coat of calm, painted over an unchanged life. It is what God grows as He teaches His children to live in the way of His Son. But the Christian who wants peace should not be surprised when God begins to work decisively on the sin that is stealing our peace. Peace is granted on His terms, not ours.
The peace of Christ is a gift, and it is also a process. It comforts the heart more as it governs the heart more. It meets us in prayer, grows through the Spirit’s fruit, and becomes more settled as the old life gives way to the new.
The search for peace is not a search for a time, place, or thing. It is learning and living the daily life of a sinner who belongs to Christ. As the Spirit within us puts sin to death and we put Christlike graces into practice, the peace we long for blossoms like a spring garden.
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