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Peace that makes no sense in impossible circumstances. This is what Paul knew in prison. This is what transcends all understanding.
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Paul writes these words and we have
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heard them so often they have lost their
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force. But listen to where they come
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from. A Roman prison cell. A man
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awaiting
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trial. A man who by all rational
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measures has lost everything. His
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freedom, his safety, possibly his life.
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And he writes, "The peace of God which
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transcends all understanding will guard
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your hearts and your minds in Christ
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Jesus."
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Transcends all understanding. Not your
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understanding specifically. All
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understanding. The peace that makes no
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sense from the perspective of reason
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alone. We want peace to make sense. We
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want to be able to track how it got
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there. We did this. So, we received
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that. We were prudent. So we are safe.
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We were faithful. So we were protected.
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A cause followed by an effect. But the
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peace God offers does not work that way.
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John's gospel captures this too in those
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final hours before the crucifixion.
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Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you. My
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peace I give you. I do not give to you
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as the world gives. Do not let your
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hearts be troubled and do not be
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afraid." He is about to be arrested,
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about to face execution. And he speaks
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of peace, not because the circumstances
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will improve, but because he has
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something the world cannot take. A route
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of peace that goes deeper than
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circumstance, deeper than safety, deeper
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than outcome. This peace is not the
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absence of trouble. The psalmist knew
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this. Even though I walk through the
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darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for
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you are with me. Not the darkest valley
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will disappear. But I will pass through
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it and I will not be alone. So what
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generates this peace that makes no
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logical sense? Connection. The direct
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experience of being held by God, not
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hoped for, not theorized about, known.
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The felt reality that you are not
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abandoned, that you are not forgotten,
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that in the midst of chaos, there is a
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presence that is completely stable,
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completely trustworthy, completely real.
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This cannot be manufactured.
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It cannot be earned. It can only be
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received.
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And once received, it becomes the
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immovable ground beneath your feet, no
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matter what the world throws at you.
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