"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and to not let them be afraid."  (John14:27, NRSV)

Someone once said that if you speak to the pain in people's lives, you will never lack for an audience.  How true that is!  Much of the pain in our lives is do to our troubled hearts, our lack of peace.  Peace is something we all crave, isn't it?

In the face of the hurry and scurry of modern life, some of us long for just a little peace and quiet - the absence of stress.  In the face of continuing unemployment and financial meltdowns, others of us wish we could have peace of mind - the absence of worry.  And in the face of continuing threats of war and attack, many of us dream of peace rather than violence -the absence of conflict.  When our lives are filled with stress, worry and conflict, the sad result is troubled hearts.

What kind of solution does the world offer for our troubled hearts?  The world offers three ways to find peace.  First, the world says that to know peace we must escape, fo someplace like the Bahamas or Disney World.  Second, the world says that to know peace we must buy something, like that luxury car or the newest and biggest television.  Or finally, the world says that to know peace we must use something, like drugs or alcohol or food or sex.  The problem with the world's peace is that it is temporary and external.  It really doesn't make a difference in our lives, solve our problems, or calm our troubled hearts.

The peace that Jesus offers our troubled hearts is something different.  Jesus offers us "Shalom", the Hebrew concept of peace.  Shalom carries the meaning of health and wholeness and blessing.  Shalom is not just the absence of worry and stress and conflict, but instead a settled sense of well being and security in God's love and care.  Shalom enables us to live in the midst of worry and stress and conflict without allowing those things to destroy us or tear us apart.

How do we get this kind of peace - this Shalom?  Shalom is not found in meditation, drugs, or worldy success.  The peace and wholeness we yearn for is something that only be found in Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in me." (John 14:1).  When we believe in who Jesus is and what he accomplished through his life, death and resurrection - when we turn our lives over to jim as our Lord and Savior - when we love him so much that we seek to keep his commandments in all that we do - then we shall have peace, we shall have the wholenes of Shalom.  Jesus offers peace to troubled hearts.  All we have to do is turn to him.