By John Thiel, mp3

How much do you sense your need of Jesus?

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This Scripture illuminates the need of Jesus. Jesus brings to us a wonderful privilege and peace. Peace of what kind? Not as the world giveth. Not the kind of peace that we gain from the lack of happiness that the world can produce but a peace that only God can produce. The peace that Jesus speaks of here is a peace he gives unto you. It’s a peace that is at rest when everything around us is in tumult. I don’t know if you have heard the story of the competition between three artists and the different impressions that these artists had of what really is peace. One artist painted a picture of a family sitting together. The second artist painted a beautiful scene in nature and the third artist painted a very storm-tossed ocean. There in the ocean were rocks and crevices and the waves were beating up against these rocks with great crashing and there in the side of that rock, that huge rock, was a little cave and inside of that cave was a dove with her little ones sitting in the nest. He won the competition because that was a true representation of the peace that only Jesus can bring, a peace amongst troubles and conflicts that surround us. Read the rest of this entry →