“If this day you only knew what makes for peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes__ because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:42, 44)

Jesus is addressing the people of Jerusalem as he made his final entry before his passion. He goes on to describe how their enemies will kill them and destroy their temple, and how he wept as he approached the city, for the people had failed to recognize that God had visited them in his person.

After all the time he spent with them, after all the miracles, after all the teaching, they still did not recognize that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was present in the person of Jesus.  They did not accept him as the Messiah they had long waited for and the consequences were dire. 

How often do we lose our peace because we forget that God in the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is in us?  Jesus tells us: he is with us always (Mt. 28:20); he wants us to come to him when we are weary and burdened (Mt. 11:28); he and the Father want to make their home in us (John 14:23); and apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

When I get angry with an inattentive store clerk, I forget that the Father and Jesus reside in me, and I lose my peace. When I fail to stop and listen to a friend who wants to share a problem, I am putting shackles on God’s mercy and love that are waiting to be manifested through me.

God never stops bidding us to seek him.  He has put in us a hunger for him whether we realize it or not.  It is a part of our human DNA.  God weeps when we do not recognize his presence in our lives.

Do we know what brings us peace? It is the presence of God dwelling in us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, being poured out through us on the people and circumstances in our lives. 

Do you experience peace in your life?