And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

Here’s the payoff.

I told you yesterday that when you release your stress and worries to God he would give you something in return.  Well, here it is.

Peace.

Oh, so very much better than stress.

So let’s break this down a bit…

The peace of God It comes from him.  It is at his command.  You can’t manufacture it; you can’t go and find it.  It is his gift—another form of the grace by which you have been saved.

Which transcends all understanding Like God’s grace, like his love for us, this peace makes no worldly sense.  Why should you have peace when your life is a teeming, steaming mess?  And yet like his grace, like his love, he gives us this priceless gift because it brings him pleasure and glory.  It’s one of those things I can never get my brain around, but I can get my heart around.  That’s enough.

Will guard your hearts and your minds Stress is a dangerous thing.  It results from—and produces—a powerful need to control our circumstances.  Left to ourselves, this quest for control can lead us into a whole bucketful of sins.  Left to ourselves, the realization that we have no control can plunge us into despair.  So God sets his peace around you like a bodyguard, protecting you from the attacks of your enemies—those outside and inside.

In Christ Jesus We only have peace because of the cross.  We are reconciled to God by and through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and our peace is possible only through him and in him.

Take his peace this morning.  Receive this gift that he offers.  I call it a gift, but it will cost you something.  It will cost you your façade of power, the cardboard cutout you call control.  Offer it up to him.  He’ll take it from you.  For you.

Now.

Release it to him, Beloved.  This illusion that you can manipulate your life, your circumstances, the people around you, it’s got you locked in a cycle of fruitless striving and perpetual despair.  Let God break the cycle—break you, if necessary.

It will leave you feeling insanely, foolishly vulnerable.

You will be safer than you have ever imagined.