My spiritual lesson for the week is on perfect peace. I learned a lot about the peace that Christ promises recently through the usual channel, struggling with adversity. Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”

My family is under a little (sometimes it seems like a lot) of unearned adversity by others who love to just stir up trouble. Yes, those people are out there. As a child, we often bantered the adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me.” That sounds correct, but in fact, words do hurt and they can hurt even worse than those sticks and stones.

The peace that Christ promises is an inner peace that may be better described as tranquility. This peace allows you to sleep at night, suppress your tendency to go buy a gun, and keeps you from thinking vengeful thoughts all day long. Well, not all day but most of the day.

This peace is not the world peace that Christ is often accused of promising. There are plenty of scriptures that refute that foolish idea. Take Luke 12:51 for example. “Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”

But He does promise inner peace when my mind is steadfast while I trust upon Him. That means that I continually remind myself of His sovereignty over all things, His continuous love for me personally, His righteousness over the wicked, and His goodness to those He calls His children.

Keep these things in mind as you struggle with adversity this week. If you are not one of His, I can’t help you. John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”