The Peace of Christ

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
—Colossians 3:15

What does it mean to trust God? To have a trusting heart means allowing our confidence in God’s character to govern our inward emotions and our outward behavior.

Think about the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus obeyed God completely because He trusted God completely. His life was absent of any inward turmoil, regardless of what was happening on the outside, because He trusted in the wisdom and the goodness of God’s plan for Him. And Jesus wants us to experience that same peace in our life as well. That’s why, in Colossians 3:15, Paul says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”

Now, there are two significant phrases in that verse. First, the phrase the peace of Christ not only means the peace that comes from Christ, but it also means the same peace that characterized the life of Jesus Christ. Did Jesus go around with inner turmoil? Was He threatened whenever people were against Him? Did He allow outward circumstances to destroy His confidence in God? Not at all. He had complete trust in God’s power, God’s love, and God’s wisdom. Therefore, He obeyed God completely. Paul is saying, “I want the same peace that was in Christ’s life to be in your life.”

The second important phrase in Colossians 3:15 is rule in your hearts. This is key. The Greek word translated rule in this verse is an athletic term. It could be translated “to umpire, to officiate at a game.” So Paul is saying, “Let the peace of Christ have the final say, make the final call, in your life.” I remember reading long ago about an umpires’ convention. Umpires were there to learn how to be better athletic officials. And one night some of the umpires got together in a hotel room and had a late-night bull session. They were talking about how they made their calls in a difficult game. One umpire said, “I call them the way I see them.” The second umpire said, “I call them the way they are.” The third umpire said, “They’re not anything until I call them.”

You know what? Life’s circumstances are just like that. We can’t control the circumstances that get thrown at us. Likewise, we cannot control the temptations inwardly that entice us. But the fact is, both of these—turmoil from the outside and temptation from the inside—are nothing until we call them.

So what Paul is saying is this: Let the peace of Christ—the confidence that Christ had in God’s character—have the final say when these difficult things come into your life. Don’t allow your inner turmoil to have the final say in your life. We can trust God completely when we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Developing a Trusting Heart” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.