Find Your Purpose & Hope

So many people strive for one thing more than any other—peace. The reason they seek it is because there’s no lasting comfort or freedom in their lives. It’s like they are always unsettled. The Bible defines peace primarily in three ways.

1. Psychological peace, the comfort within.
2. Relational peace, harmony among humanity.
3. Spiritual peace, which is between God and man.

The Bible outlines how sin damages or wipes out all three types of peace. When God created man, he was at peace with God, himself, and everyone else. However, that peace was lost when he turned against God. Peace can be restored, but we can’t do it alone. God provided a way.

Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, was sent to our world to take away our sins. He did so by allowing Himself to be crucified, and it was that sacrifice that made it possible for us to have peace again—peace within ourselves, peace with each other and peace with God.

After Jesus died on the cross, He came back to life. That demonstrated Jesus is God, but also made it clear He desires for everyone to have perfect peace. “For He Himself is our peace, … and He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:14-17).

Jesus empowers each of us to overcome every type of sin. No matter how difficult your situation feels, Christ can break through it. But you must first acknowledge your sin and commit to Jesus, then you can have perfect peace and know its meaning.

Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me” (John 16:33). To have peace, you must know the One who can give it.

Ancient Jews usually had only one name, and, when greater specificity was needed, it was customary to add the father’s name or the place of origin. Thus, in his lifetime Jesus was called Jesus son of Joseph (Luke 4:22; John 1:45, 6:42), Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 10:38), or Jesus the Nazarene (Mark 1:24; Luke 24:19). After his death he came to be called Jesus Christ. Christ was not originally a name but a title derived from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew term meshiah (Messiah), meaning “the anointed one.” This title indicates that Jesus’ followers believed him to be the anointed son of King David, whom some Jews expected to restore the fortunes of Israel. Passages such as Acts of the Apostles 2:36 show that some early Christian writers knew that the Christ was properly a title, but in many passages of the New Testament, including those in the letters of the Apostle Paul, the name and title are combined and used together as Jesus’ name: Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1; 3:24). Paul sometimes simply used Christ as Jesus’ name (e.g., Romans 5:6).