“The 100% Solution!” John 14:25-27 Key verse(s) 27:“‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’”
Since the beginning of time, mankind has craved peace! When Adam and Eve came upon the body of their son Abel, slain by his brother Cain, they no doubt longed for peace. First there was the confrontation with Satan in the garden, then this. Can there be no peace? And so it has been ever since that time, peace has eluded man for the most part and bloodshed has been his lot ever since. The peculiar thing about peace is this; man has always longed for the time when peace was in his life––yet peace has so seldom reigned in the hearts of men, it is doubtful that what he longs for has ever really been there in the first place. That which he craves is so foreign to his existence that, perhaps, the longing is more of a whim than it is a dream.
A former president of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and historians from England, Egypt, Germany, and India have come up with some startling information: Since 3600 B.C. the world has known only 292 years of peace! During this period there have been 14,351 wars, large and small, in which 3.64 billion people have been killed. The value of the property destroyed would pay for a golden belt around the world 97.2 miles wide and 33 feet thick. Since 650 B.C. there have also been 1,656 arms races, only 16 of which have not ended in war. The remainder ended in the economic collapse of the countries involved. (Source Unknown.)
Sometimes the very thing that we are searching for is the very thing that we cover up in our search we are so zealous. Take, for example, the case of my murky aquarium. For years I have maintained a 30 gallon aquarium in which I have kept various exotic tropical fish. Although I am not an aquarium “nut” like some, I do enjoy the hobby and pretty faithfully take care of both fish and tank as best I can. About a year ago the water in the tank turned a pale shade of green, indicating there was an algae bloom in the water that needed to be stopped. I bought an algae reducer, a chemical added to the water that was supposed to eradicate the algae and give me back my clear water. Yet, the water did not clear. So, I decided finally to drain the tank completely, clean it thoroughly and start over with new water. I filled the tank back with fresh water and then added the requisite drops of “tank starter”, a bacterial agent that creates a coating on the fish which protects them from infection in “unseasoned” water. For a few days the water was clear. Then, within a week, the water turned green again. I discovered through trial and error that the culprit all along was not the algae but the
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