I’ve always wondered what Christ meant when He told the apostles at the Last Supper that the peace He gives is not the peace the world gives.
In Janine Goffar’s “C.S.Lewis Index” there are 6 references to “peace”, and I think they don’t answer that question. But the one reference that sticks in my mind the most is from “A Grief Observed”:
"When I lay these questions [about his suffering] before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of ‘No answer’. It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook HIs head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, ‘Peace, child; you don’t understand.’ "
And this is a scriptural meditation about peace from the Russian book, “Day by Day”:
"Scripture: ‘The one who is steadfast in spirit You will keep in perfect peace, since he trusts in You’ (Isaiah: 26, 3)
"Meditation:
"Peace is promised to the one who trusts in the Lord. What is the essence of this amazing quality granted by God Himself and fully preserved by Him in us? Peace is the quiet, imperturbable feeling of contentment which is calmer and stronger than the usual feeling of happiness and more worthy and exalted than the feeling of pleasure. Pleasure can make us happy for a while, and temporary joy silences grief for a while, but peace is incomparably deeper than both. Look at the state of a person who has perfect peace and you will see that his peace reaches to the very depth of his soul, covering everything and forming the basis of his entire life. Ease and worries, happiness and grief, health and sickness constantly alternate in life, but peace is predominant in one who is steadfast in spirit, regardless of everything else.
“Note how rarely one hears the word ‘peace’ in the conversation of worldly people. For them it seems unreachable and they think that perfect peace does not exist on earth. When they speak about a calm life, they mean simply the absence of external disturbances. But spiritual peace in the Christian sense does not depend at all on external circumstances. Our lives can go on in constant motion and the activities that we must undertake can be difficult, tiring, alarming and even repugnant, but nevertheless, with God’s help and in the midst of the most turbulent type of life, we can preserve in our soul an imperturbable spiritual peace – God’s peace, which ‘surpasses all understanding’ (Phil: 4,7)”
Dimitry
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)