Experiencing the Heart of JesusSample

Experiencing the Peace of Jesus

Maybe you can relate to the morning I just had.

It’s Sunday. Sundays are always busy days for me. Sundays are always early days for me. Today promised to be no exception. With a full slate of activities planned, I got up early and drove to church. There was not much traffic at 6:00 am. I had the roads to myself.

The orange of dawn had yet to break the nighttime spell on the summer’s black sky. The twilight sparkled. Cool air wafted. I parked outside my church office and took a minute to enjoy the quietude. I set down my books, picked up my coffee, and leaned against the car.

It was calm. But calm has a way of becoming chaos.

With a briefcase in one hand and a coffee cup in the other, I walked and whistled across the parking lot to the office door. To enter my office, I had to get past the sleeping dog of the modern century: the alarm system. I set down my briefcase and unlocked the door. I picked up my briefcase and walked in. The code box on the wall was flashing a red light.

I’m not too electronically inclined, but I do know what a red light on an alarm system means: “Punch in the code, buddy, or get ready for the music.” I punched in the code. Nothing happened. I punched in the code again. The little red light kept blinking. I kept pushing, the clock kept ticking, and the light kept flashing.

The siren pounced on me like a mountain lion. I thought we were under nuclear attack. Floodlights flash flooded the hallway. Red strobes turned. I kept pushing buttons, and the alarm kept blaring. You’d have thought it was a breakout at Alcatraz.

My situation was desperate. I raced down the hall to my office, pulled open the lap drawer of my desk, and found the phone number of the alarm company. The next twenty minutes were loud, demanding, confusing, and aggravating. I was speaking to technicians I couldn’t see about equipment I didn’t understand trying to understand words I couldn’t hear.

Ever happened to you? When was the last time your life went from calm to chaos in half a minute? (“How many examples would you like?” you ask.) When was the last time you found yourself pushing buttons that didn’t respond, struggling with instructions you couldn’t hear, or operating a system you didn’t understand?

If you’ve ever had your spouse call and say, “Just got a letter from the IRS. They are going to audit . . .”

If your boss has ever begun a conversation with these words: “You’re a good worker, but with all this talk about a recession, we have to cut back . . .”

If your teenager has ever walked in and asked, “Does our car insurance cover the other guy’s car . . . ?”

Then you know that life can go from calm to chaos in a matter of moments. No warnings. No announcements. No preparation. Little red lights blink, and you start pushing buttons. Sometimes you silence the alarm; sometimes it rips the air like a demon. The result can be peace or panic. The result can be calm or chaos.

It all depends on one factor: Do you know the code?

For me, this morning became chaos. Had I been prepared . . . had I known the code . . . had I known what to do when the warning flashed . . . calm would have triumphed.

The next pages in this unit will usher you into a day in Jesus’ life when the calm could have become chaos. It has all the elements of anxiety: bad news and a death threat, followed by swarming demands, interruptions, inept disciples, and a blazing temptation to follow the crowd. In twenty-four pressure-packed hours, Jesus was carried from the summit of celebration to the valley of frustration.

It was the second most stressful day of his life. As soon as one alarm was disarmed, another began blinking. The rulers threatened. The crowds pressed. The followers doubted. The people demanded. When you see what he endured that day, you will wonder how he kept his cool. Somehow, though, he did. Although the people pressed and the problems monsooned, Jesus didn’t blow up or bail out. In fact, he did just the opposite. He served people, thanked God, and made coolheaded decisions.

I want to help you see how he did it—to share a few “internal codes” that you desperately need. Equip yourself with these internal codes, punch them in when the red lights of your world start to flash, and you will be amazed at how quickly the alarms will be disarmed.

Prayer

Dear Father, I need to hear your voice above the chaos in my life. Sometimes I am faced with hard decisions, and sometimes I am plagued with doubts. Teach me to trust you. I want to experience the peace of Jesus. Help me see his peaceful attitudes, decisions, and demeanor. Help me mirror him in my own life. Amen.