Week #2: True Peace: What the Gospel Says About Shalom
Blog Series Intention Recap
The gospel is not just the good news that saves us—it’s the good news that shapes us. Many believers stop at justification, forgetting that Jesus invites us into ongoing renewal. Each week, we’ll explore how the gospel breathes new life into our growth, peace, love, healing, and mission. The journey doesn’t end at salvation; it begins there.
This post is the main page of the series “Fresh Air.” Click here to see the rest of the posts.
Let’s jump into Week #2:
Peace Isn’t Quiet: Why the Gospel Leads Us Into the Storm… Jesus offers a kind of peace the world cannot manufacture. His peace doesn’t hide from pain or pretend everything is fine. Instead, gospel peace restores what is broken and equips us to step into chaos with confidence. This kind of peace doesn’t silence trouble—it redeems it. This week, choose one area of conflict in your life and ask Jesus to bring His kind of peace into it. Don’t look for escape. Look for restoration. Be the first to listen, forgive, or step toward healing.
Why it Matters:
Jesus gives peace not as the world gives.
Peace in the gospel is about restoration, not escapism.
God’s peace is active—it equips us to face life, not flee from it.
We are called to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers.
Go Deeper:
John 14:27 (ESV): "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
These words were spoken by Jesus on the night before His crucifixion. Knowing that He would be betrayed, arrested, tortured, and killed, Jesus turns to comfort His disciples. He doesn’t promise them comfort in the form of avoidance. He doesn’t promise ease or safety. He offers them peace—His peace.
This moment shows us something essential about the gospel: the peace Jesus gives is not defined by the absence of difficulty. It is defined by the presence of God.
Jesus Gives Peace Unlike the World
When people talk about peace today, they often mean a kind of numbness. They want the quiet that comes from being untouched by conflict, untouched by pain, untouched by others. But this is not peace. It’s avoidance. It’s escape.
Jesus explicitly contrasts His peace with the world’s version: "Not as the world gives do I give to you." What kind of peace does the world offer? The world offers distraction. Temporary relief. The illusion of control. But it cannot offer wholeness.
The Hebrew concept of peace—shalom—is much more than calmness. Shalom is about restoration, fullness, completion. It’s about things being made right.
Jesus gives shalom because He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Through the gospel, He restores our relationship with God and sets us on the path to wholeness in every part of life.
Gospel Peace Is Restoration, Not Escape
In John 14:1 (ESV), Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." This is not a command to deny reality. It’s an invitation to trust a deeper reality.
In the middle of heartbreak, Jesus reminds His disciples of the Father’s house—many rooms, prepared places, eternal promises. Gospel peace doesn't remove us from pain; it roots us in hope. It sees the brokenness of the world but is not overcome by it.
Jesus doesn’t escape the cross. He walks into it. And from it, resurrection comes. Gospel peace doesn’t run from the hard things—it redeems them.
Colossians 1:20 (ESV) speaks of Jesus reconciling "all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." That is costly peace. Restorative peace. Not the world’s kind.
Jesus does not leave His followers defenseless. In John 14:26, He promises the Holy Spirit as our Helper. Gospel peace is not passive—it’s powered by the Spirit.
The Spirit teaches, reminds, comforts, and empowers. We do not walk through storms with empty hands. We walk with God.
God’s peace is not just comfort in crisis; it’s courage to continue. In Philippians 4:6–7, Paul writes, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God... will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Peace that guards us. That holds us. That goes with us. This is gospel peace.
We Are Called to Be Peacemakers, Not Peacekeepers
Jesus blesses the peacemakers in Matthew 5:9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
Notice the word: peacemakers. Not peacekeepers. Peacekeeping avoids conflict. Peacemaking steps into it for the sake of healing.
To make peace means to work toward restoration where things are broken. In marriages, in friendships, in churches, in communities. Peacemakers speak truth in love. They absorb offense. They forgive. They go first.
The gospel doesn’t just give us peace with God—it teaches us how to extend it to others.
Romans 12:18 (ESV) challenges us: "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."
This doesn’t mean we will always succeed, but it means we must always try.
How does this help me understand, “Fresh Air?”
Jesus Is Our Peace
When Jesus promises peace in John 14, He’s not offering a product. He’s offering Himself.
Peace is not a mood. It’s not a moment. It’s a person. Ephesians 2:14 (ESV) says, "For he himself is our peace."
He is our peace in the pain. Our peace in the waiting. Our peace in the questions. Through the gospel, we receive not just a future hope but a present companion.
And because He lives, we can live differently.
So let your heart be untroubled—not because life is easy, but because Christ is near. Receive His peace. Carry it with you. And offer it to others.
That’s the fresh air of the gospel: not a breeze that blows our troubles away, but the breath of Christ that strengthens us to walk through them with hope.
