At Peace
By An Overthinker
Is there such a thing as people pleasers anonymous? If there is, I think I may have needed it. My case wasn’t as severe as I have seen, but let’s not compare different degrees of the same problem. As a child I was carefree and didn’t really struggle with making sure everyone was happy. There were things that happened that made me grow out of that, and into a more stressful state of being.
I cared too much about what people think. I had to make sure that people knew that I was trying my best. I tried to make sure that people weren’t upset with me. Asking myself, ‘did I do something wrong?’ I needed to keep the peace, but whose peace was I keeping when my inner thoughts were at war against me? What even is peace?
“ ‘Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.’ ”
“ ‘Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.’ ”
In the kingdom of God appeasing someone to avoid disagreement is not true peace. The word for peace used in Luke 12:51 is the Greek word eirēnē, which means a state of national tranquility. The good news and belief of Jesus as the son of God and Savior to a lost world is divisive. If the state of agreement with everyone is not true peace then what is? The bible says multiple things about the perfect peace of God in scriptures like, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:7, and Isaiah 9:5-7.
Studying these passages makes me believe that the peace that I can have is independent from everything and everyone around me. My peace can come from trusting in God with all things in my life and being unafraid of another’s opinions or actions. With this I am at peace. I still have anxieties that try to come and bring disruption to this truth, but they cannot overcome it, because I trust in Jesus who gave it.
