There is no shortage of attempts to find peace of mind.  People look to entertainment, financial security, or drugs only to find a short-term fix but not a lasting solution.  The musical group Boston found a receptive audience to their 1977 hit “Peace of Mind” as they gave voice to the lament of their listeners:

I understand about indecision, but I don’t care if I get behind
People livin’ in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind.

The reality is one cannot find peace of mind elsewhere unless it is found in oneself.  Realize that today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!  So how do I find peace of mind?  The Apostle Paul gives us the answer as he wrote to the Philippians from a prison cell:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

What a contrast!  Paul says worry about nothing and pray about everything!  Worry and prayer seem to be mutually exclusive.  I find that when I’m anxious my focus is not on God, but when I focus on God – who He is and what he can do – my anxiety fades away.  Notice how Paul describes the peace of God, it “surpasses all comprehension.”  I can have peace even when there is no logical reason why I should have peace.  Paul, writing from a Jewish background, no doubt had in mind the Hebrew concept of Shalom which is more than the absence of conflict but a sense of wholeness and completeness.

The word “guard” is a military term and it guards both our heart (our inner person) and our minds.  Practically speaking I have discovered that when I get my focus off of myself and look to God and minister to others I experience His peace. The prayer of Francis of Assisi says it well:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.  Amen.

Frances Havergal reminds us where our peace comes from:

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

May you experience His perfect peace and rest as you focus upon Him!

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Chu,rch at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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