As Christians, we’re called upon to be more like Jesus.  Most of the time, we do this by focusing on His love.  And that’s the right way to start.  Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Those commandments are a big undertaking in any life, and we must continually pursue them, but today let’s focus on another character trait of Jesus.  The disciple Matthew tells a story about when  Jesus and the disciples were crossing over the Sea of Galilee.  He said in Matthew 8:24, “Without warning, a furious storm came up…”  Sound familiar?  Had any furious storms come up in your life?  Have any of them come without warning? In this case, the disciples panicked, and surprisingly, many of them were experienced fisherman!

Before we judge them too harshly, let’s look at our own response to storms:  worry, stress, anger.  Maybe all three?  But we are modeling our lives after Jesus, so we need to look at His response to storms.  The complete verse in Matthew 8:24 states, “Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.”  Who does that?  Here’s the answer: The person who sleeps through the storms of life is a person at peace.  Jesus, despite all circumstances happening around Him, remained peaceful.  Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”  Despite the raging storms around him, Jesus remained at rest.

So let’s follow Jesus’ example and agree with Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, that transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  I don’t know about you, but I want my heart ‘guarded by peace’.