It can be difficult to live a life of peace. I struggle finding it. That must be why I have written about it several times. I can’t seem to consistently find, “…the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7).
Recently God showed me a way to “practice” having peace in my heart. The best way to describe it is what you experience the last week of a bad job. (Yes, I know that sounds kind of weird. But hear me out first.) You may not understand this analogy if you have never had a job that you were excited to quit. But if you have, mentally transport yourself back to that last miserable week of your employment.
It’s Monday morning and you are facing the usual challenges. There is Sheila and Martin (the names have been changed to protect the innocent) and their drama. Lists of emails fill your inbox concerning what went wrong over the weekend. A text message from your supervisor asks you to come by his/her office ASAP. These are the usual problems in your usual week. But this is no usual week. This is your last week of work! You only have to deal with all this junk for four more days and then you get to walk away. This changes everything! How do you deal with all this junk in your last week? You address the pains, problems, and unjust criticism, but you don’t own them. They are not sandbags in your life, weighing your balloon down. They are simple inconveniences, small smudges of dust on your shirt that you can easily brush away.
Do you get the picture? Can you feel the difference in your gut? The weight and stress of these problems is gone because it is no longer yours to carry. Your replacement will take the load and you will be free of it all in a few short days.
This, “someone else is carrying the burdens of my life,” theme sounds strikingly familiar to me. Does it to you? It should. Jesus is doing the carrying. He said “…my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30). It’s not just the sin that Jesus wants to carry. He also wants the regrets, burdens, stresses, and worries if we let Him. If I let Him.
I struggle doing this. There are times I feel the burden of things I didn’t get done in my past jobs from years ago. And the burdens are not just related to my work. Regrets as a husband, father, son, and friend all want to pile on and push to the front of my mind, creating a nagging worry that is difficult to put aside. But Jesus offers me peace. I can release my regrets and mistakes to Him. He can bring healing and restoration in my life now. And someday all this junk will be forgotten. One day all these things will disappear as I walk into the presence of the Father. No more tears, or sorry, or pain, or regret. In the Father’s presence is perfect peace.
Join me in the journey of finding peace with God. Let the stuff go and ask Jesus to carry it for you. You will find more peace in your life and discover what an amazing Savior He is.
