Have you ever impulsively flashed the peace sign without knowing what exactly you were promoting? Have you ever been kept awake at night because things were running through your head at a lightning pace and you could not seem to quiet down? Have you ever been on vacation and still felt uncomfortable or anxious? Have you ever wondered what peace really is and how you could secure it in your life?

Our Search
Peace is elusive. It is something we all want and yet, typically, we do not have the peace we crave. The peace that has become such a societal cliché is so often beyond our reach. Most people are advocates for peace and seek it on some level. The search for peace has infiltrated old industries and created new ones. How can we have peace? What is the method? What is the product? How long does it last?

These days the idea of achieving "inner peace" has made its way to the shelves of neighborhood drugstores. Body fragrances are named "Tranquility," tea is called "Calm," music compilations are entitled "Quietudes." Entire stores are dedicated to the sale of candles, incense, and aromatherapy.

Beyond the sensory treatments there is a line devoted to help those searching for that evasive "inner peace." More and more gyms advertise yoga classes and other "spirit-body" integrated activities. Bookstores have shelves of books on combating anxiety and stress. All these are directed at helping people to relax and, through relaxation, to be at peace.

Beyond draining our wallets on the multitude of products and methods, we attempt to find peace and quiet in other ways. We transfer colleges, change jobs, drop relationships—even move to new cities.

Some of us go on diets and exercise determinedly. Others dye their hair and buy new clothes while practicing deep breathing and positive thinking. We exert much effort and spend much time trying to attain that state of perfect and continuous contentment within and serenity without. When we fail, we either blame ourselves for the flaws in our appearance or personality, or we accuse society of setting standards we cannot meet. Generally, we try to pin the source of our inner discord on someone or something. Although we are trying to solve our inward problem, we look for external solutions to apply and outward problems to shrug off rather than deal with their source. Even when we do manage to change our situation for the better, we are still uneasy. Our feelings fluctuate. Our environments change. Peace for us is either unattainable or short-lived.

Peace: a Person
Nothing external is the true cause of our agitation, just as nothing outward seems to be the true source of peace. In our experience we establish what peace is not, and where peace is not found, and how peace does not last. Yet, knowing that real peace must exist, we have an urgency within to find it. Nothing works, nothing brings us peace, not because peace is theoretical and unattainable, but because the real peace we are seeking comes in an entirely different way. Rather than a calm state of mind or a tranquil emotion, peace is a person. God Himself is Peace and thus He is the source of all peace.¹ Without God, we cannot and will not have peace. Alone, we cannot and will not lead a life at ease. Consumed with our outward quest for peace, we miss the simple answer. Peace is a Person. Peace is God. Without Him, there is no peace.

Between Us and Peace
To have peace we must have God. However, God is righteous. This attribute serves as a prerequisite for us to enjoy and experience peace. God's nature is righteousness. God is described in the Bible as having "immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see."² No man can see His face and live, because as men, our nature is unrighteousness. We are sinners. Maybe not consciously, blatantly, or explicitly do we commit error or do wrong, but we do these things nevertheless. Without being taught or instructed, a child will lie to his mother and steal from his sister. Although we may not consider ourselves to be bad people, still, we cannot claim to have lived completely upright lives. Even one error, one mistake, one mean comment or half-truth taints us with unrighteousness.

With the sins that we commit both consciously and unconsciously, there is always a feeling of guilt. If we hurt someone, we feel bad. If we steal or lie, we sense uneasiness. The accumulation of all the mistakes we have made and continue to make issues in our condition of inward upheaval. No outward modification can change the fact that we are people living without peace. We sin, and as long as we are unrighteous, we cannot receive God as our peace.

Peace can only follow righteousness. "And the work of righteousness will be peace, / And the result of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."³ In order to have peace we must become righteous. Because God is a God of peace and also a God of love, He decided not to let us remain in this state of unrighteousness, cut out from every possibility of peace. Rather He calls us, offering "peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,"⁴ and provides us the way to accept His offer of peace. When our unrighteousness is cleared away, we have unhindered access to peace.

Closing the Gap
The way to have peace is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to earth to deal with our unrighteousness. Because He is absolutely righteous, He satisfied the demand for righteousness. He died on a cross to shed His precious blood for the reparation for our sins. When Jesus' blood was shed, He provided us the righteousness we need to approach God that we may have peace.⁵ All we must do is accept this arrangement and we will be forgiven and cleansed from all our sins. The gap is now closed. When we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we receive the complete peace that only the God of peace can give.⁶ The peace that He gives us is His Son, Jesus Christ, who comes into us and fills our lives with peace.

There is Peace
At the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, He comes into our deepest part. Receiving the person, Christ, as our peace is an inward phenomenon. It is not synonymous with a nicer car or a bigger house. Peace is not an anesthetic that translates into the supreme bliss that is advertised by the therapeutic industry. The presence of Jesus in our lives is a peace that surpasses every man's understanding and that guards our hearts and our thoughts.⁷ Real peace can never fit the definitions we have tried confining it to, because peace is a person, Christ. Thus, peace to us is more than a temporary feeling or emotion. We live a life of peace because we live with Peace and in Peace. His presence in our being calms every storm and quells every tempest. Christ becomes the deep peace in our being that swallows our fear, eases our anxious thoughts, and floods us with a peace that far exceeds anything we had ever hoped for. Not only so, He replaces any unrest by filling us wholly with Himself as Peace. This Peace can never leave us, it can never dissipate, and it can never be destroyed. His presence is peace itself to us. We have Peace continually and in every way because He is within us. Once He comes into us, it does not matter where we are or with whom, for we have the source of peace with us and in us all the time. We have no need to strive for peace without; we enjoy a peace issuing from Christ within.

1 Ephesians 2:14. 2 First Timothy 6:16. 3 Isaiah 32:17. 4 Isaiah 57:19. 5 First Peter 3:18. 6 Romans 5:1. 7 Philippians 4:7.

If you want to receive Christ as peace, simply pray the following prayer with a sincere heart:

"Lord Jesus, I do not want to live without peace any longer. I confess that I am unrighteous. Thank You for dying for me that I could be forgiven of my unrighteousness. Lord Jesus, come into my spirit and fill me with Yourself as peace. I receive You as peace. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You have come into me!"