Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:14

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Romans 14:19

Our verses today all talk about peace. Peace is a feeling of calmness and safety, when there is no arguing or fighting, when we get along with others, when things are quiet and friendly.

Sometimes our world is not a peaceful place. There are wars between countries, people arguing about different ideas, and storms and fighting.

But we can have peace with God and Jesus!

Our first verse is Jesus telling His disciples, and us, that we can get peace from Jesus. Do you remember the Bible story when Jesus was sleeping peacefully in the boat with some of His disciples and a big storm came up? His disciples were afraid that the boat would turn over, but they had to wake Jesus up. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39

When we are worried or afraid or upset we can talk to Jesus and share our worries and fears and ask Him to take them away and give us peace, His peace.

Our next verses tell us that we need to pursue peace. Pursue means to chase after something in order to catch it. We can pursue peace by doing good. We can be kind to someone who is mean to us, or we can simply walk away, instead of starting an argument or a fight. We can also pursue peace by helping and encouraging others.

Another way to have peace, even when things seem to be going wrong is to trust that Jesus and God are with you and are working things for your good. When you trust Jesus to work things out, you don’t have to worry!

This week talk with your parents about how you can all pursue peace with Jesus! Talk about when you feel peaceful and when you don’t. What can you do to bring peace to your family and friends? How can you pursue peace with kindness and forgiveness?

Blessings as you pursue peace with Jesus and catch it!