A wise leadership trainer examined the incoming attendees as they gathered. She crossed the room and said to one of those new friends, “I felt peace when you entered the room.” Now wouldn’t you like for someone to say that about you every now and again? 

Peaceful people produce peaceful effects that overflow beyond peaceful expressions into peaceful relationships with God and others. Is there any greater peace than peace with God? Is there any greater gift than sharing this peace?

Words are so much more than syllables and inflections breathed into the air. Words carry life or death. They hurt or heal. They are extensions of our very nature and character. God-shaped, Jesus-centered lives express life. They breathe beauty, wonder, and peace, glorious, gracious peace. 

If there’s anything this old world needs today, it is peace. Peace is one of the beauty marks of love. The Apostle Paul says it this way in Galatians 5:22, 23:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

How do you know someone has a deepening, abiding walk with God? There is peace. 

Peace, peace, God’s peace cannot help but saturate and overflow.

Jesus said in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Peace views death through the lens of resurrection. The peace of God’s presence relieves us of the fear of death. Death removes separation. God promises not only eternity within his peaceful realm but New and Improved bodies. The Apostle Paul again speaks peace to our fearful souls in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57:

“What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret.
We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.
For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.
And we who are living will also be transformed.
For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
But thank God!
He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Here is what I want for you: I want everyone you meet to feel what that leadership trainer felt when she said, “I felt peace when you entered the room.” I want you to know and experience the peace of God’s presence at all times. I want God’s peace to overflow into the lives of others. I want the people you meet to want the peace God produces in you. 

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I will carry God’s peace and express it in all I do and say.

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Our Father, fill my life with your peace. May the words of my mouth express your peace. May my decisions lead to more peaceful results. May my work make more peace possible. May my life overflow with this evidence of your presence. Amen.