John 16.33 promises in Me you may have peace. In this world you have trouble.

Everyone wants peace; peace of mind, peace at heart and peace with their fellow man.

This desire for peace creates an unrealistic optimism that it can be achieved on earth.

This explains why we demand our rights, we demand justice, and we demand tolerance: we make numerous demands in order to achieve peace.

Unfortunately we never obtain peace this way despite how loud we yell, how many laws we pass or how severe our punishment upon those who don’t seem to cooperate with our peaceful efforts.

This is because we deny two realities when we attempt to demand peace in the world.

First is no peace can exist until peace with God through Jesus Christ is achieved.

As long as people stay unreconciled to God they will remain irreconcilable with one another.

Jesus says peace with God is had only through Him. Until we make peace with God though Jesus Christ we have no ability to make peace with anyone else for we have not yet made peace even within ourselves.

We find our peace when we have found peace with God.

Second, until every person is reconciled to God and at peace with Him man will continue to be at war with man.

Our human nature is selfish, self-centered and corrupt; it does not do the things it should by nature because it cannot.

Therefore people will never be fully at peace with other people until each person is born again with the peace of God that transforms our lives from darkness to light.

Jesus told us in this world we would not have peace but in this world we can have peace with God and thus begin to have peace with other human beings.