The Lord’s Peace

What is the difference between the peace that Christ gives us and the peace the world gives? The world's peace isn't really a positive force so much as an absence of hostility. The peace the world gives is a fleeting pause in man's eternal struggle against his neighbors. The world's peace is often brought about, however briefly, through complicated legal documents that are only grudgingly agreed to and against which all parties involved will inevitably seek to unravel as quickly as possible by means of subterfuge or outright defiance. The Lord's peace is different. The Lord's peace only ever exists between Him and us as individuals. It does not depend on alliances or detentes or demilitarized zones or escape clauses. His peace is freely available despite the external turmoil we may be facing. Peace is a force for good, a power of heaven, and like all powers of heaven, it is inseparable from the principles of righteousness. If there is internal chaos or external strife, if we feel like we are driven with the wind and tossed, if we are overwhelmed by the challenges we face, drowning in a deadly churn of fear and anguish and despair, and if the very jaws of Hell are gaping open to swallow us whole, yet still we hold fast to the principles of righteousness, of patience and long-suffering and gentleness and love unfeigned, then shall we partake of the peace that the Lord giveth. "Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever." (D&C 122:9). God does not remove every obstacle in our path but the peace He gives us will comfort and sustain us regardless of our circumstances.