A couple weeks ago I watched "Kung Fu Panda 2".   Fun movie, worth watching in my opinion.

In that movie, Po could not defeat certain opponents because he was too troubled by his past....  he was told that his problem was that he needed to find "inner peace".   Eventually, after involuntarily arriving at a monastery, meditating for a long time, and finally understanding his origins and the fact that his parents really did love him, he acquired "inner peace".  This allowed him to focus and hone his kung-fu skills and eventually defeat his opponents.

My question is:  To what extent does this apply to our lives?   Do we need "inner peace?"   If so, how do we get it?

I think inner peace is indeed important.   I see so many of my friends trying to find inner peace in various ways... through romantic relationship... through trying to acquire lots of money... through trying to become powerful or prestigious...  through workaholism...  through philosophy and yoga and eastern meditation... through classical music or jazz music or art... through social events...  and it seems for many that the "peace" they find is only temporary.

This shows the difference the difference between "circumstantial peace" and real, true, inner peace.   "Circumstantial peace" means that you are peaceful when external circumstances are going well... but when trouble and stress comes, peace flits away.

In "Death of a Guru", Rabindranath Maharaj shared how he sought inner peace through yoga and meditation.  He would go deep into a trance, and finally feel relaxed and peaceful.  But after finishing his session, he would immediately lose the peace and be filled again with stress and worry and anger.

Fortunately however, Rabindranath Maharaj eventually found Jesus Christ, and began to experience true, permanent, inner peace.  As Jesus said to his disciples in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."

Not circumstantial peace that only lasts while the music plays or while the compliments are flowing or while the bank account is high.  Permanent, rock-solid, eternal, true, inner peace...  it comes only from Jesus Christ.

Why?  Why can no other religion or hobby on earth provide lasting peace?  It is because only the true God described in the Bible deals with the sin problem that we all have.  Hobbies are mere temporary/escapism, and all the other world religions and philosophies are essentially "self-help" systems.   They all say that if only you can be a good enough person, you will acquire peace (and achieve heaven, or nirvana, or godhood, or similar state).  The other religions all essentially say, "If only you can relax and realize that you are basically good at heart, you will have inner peace; if only you can think positive thoughts and 'wage peace with your breath', all will be well."

Only the Bible tells us the truth: that we are desperately evil at heart, (and are only prevented from expressing it out by societal constraints and parental-type training).  Only the God of the Bible tells us honestly how serious our sin problem is: we cannot fix it ourselves or compensate for it by doing good works... 'the soul that sins will die' - either I must die, or else someone must volunteer to die in my place.  Jesus Christ died in my place... the legal guilt of my sin was completely transferred to Him... now I am legally free... innocent... pure... righteous!  And my outer life will some day (when I temporarily physically die) match up with my new perfectly-good inner spirit.

Only when I see the depth of my sin and when I see how Jesus Christ has taken it all away, can I (and other people) be truly at peace.  Any other approach is merely a bandaid, temporarily covering over a cancerous wound which continues to fester, because the basic problem is not removed.

Hooray!  Inner peace is possible!  And from personal experience, it is wonderful!   I wish that all my friends would eventually believe in Jesus Christ and come to experience the true peace and eternal life too!

The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace. Psalm 29:11
 

An American?  Yes.  I am an American.

But first and dearest, I am a Christian - an adopted son of the Creator God.

As a Christian, I believe that Jesus was right when He said -

"See to it that no one misleads you.
For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.
You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."
Is this morbid of me?  Am I improperly focusing on the "dark" that is in society without properly seeing the "light" in every person?  Ought I to follow the Buddhist path and ignore the evil, unrest, wars, and riots that are happening with increasing frequency around the world?   Shall I believe the liberal/Eastern "peace and safety" myth, as in the following poem, that peace is actually attainable without God's Messiah?

(keep in mind that this poem was written the day after September 11, 2001)

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, memorize the words for thank you in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries, imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious:

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

- judyth hill

No.   No!   and with much weeping I say... No.
Flowers, tea, and knitting, wonderful as they are, will never bring us peace!
I say this not because I am a pessimistic person, but because I am a realistic person.  I say this because God has pronounced, very clearly, that there will be no peace until Jesus Christ returns to reign on earth forever.

Evil is not an illusion (and should not be treated as if it is such), chaos is not "dancing raspberries".

Rather, evil is real.  Sin is the darkest of abhorrent twistedness, a screaming-in-the-face-of the Beautiful One.

But God...   But God is there, and He is not silent... He has not left us alone...  He has acted...

Evil is temporary.  Our bottled tears will soon be wiped away, and death will be no more.

You who are grieved at the evil in the world, turn to the Loving Creator!

Please don't ignore Him, don't pretend that He doesn't exist - don't pretend you don't need Him.   Accept the forgiveness He offers you in Christ's substitutionary death-for-us!  Please accept it before it is too late.

Turn to Him in wholehearted repentance... in a 180 degree reversal of your past self-worshipping life...  turn to Him in devotion and allegiance - worship Him alone.

Then, and only then, go make some soup.

 

    For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9