This is the one-hundred-ninety-fifth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

“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.” John 14:27

You’re walking down the sidewalk, and you see a longtime acquaintance. If there is no time to stop and talk, you nod and simply say, “Hi” or “How ya doin’?” Maybe you mean it, or maybe the words are just words.

The Hebrews had a much better way of greeting each other: “Shalom.” The usual translation into English is “Peace,” and though this translation is accurate, it’s incomplete. Shalom is a tremendous word and an expression of full blessing. This peace is not just the absence of conflict, but a complete wholeness of being. So when someone greets another in Hebrew with “Shalom,” it doesn’t just mean, “Hi, hope you stay well today.” But “May you enjoy security and safety, may you experience harmony and accord in all parts of your life, and may you have soundness, completeness, and health in every respect.”

Shalom means health. It points to how we are healed.

Jesus greeted his disciples many times with “Shalom.” And they most certainly never forgot that day after Jesus’ death when he suddenly appeared in the room with them, saying, “Shalom.” Shalom, indeed!

The resurrected Messiah is our true hope for healing. On the night Jesus was betrayed, before the arrest, trial, and execution, he said to his disciples: “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.” They didn’t know what he meant then. They didn’t know how much healing they would need.

How do we heal? We are, in fact, being healed all the time. Our bodies are continually attacked by microbes and germs that are unseen, but by God’s design the body is defended. And when we’re cut and bruised, we heal.

But the most important healing happens to the wholeness of our being when Christ brings peace to the troubled soul and the fearful heart, when he rejoins us in fellowship with the heavenly Father, and when he breaks apart flaws of our character like pride and resentment. This is true healing.

MAKE IT REAL

Find a peaceful place today. Maybe a park, a quiet room, a nature trail or a library, and pray for God’s contentment and peace for a troubling situation in your life.
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Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s teaching pastor. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel’s many books include Spiritual Leadership Today: Having Deep Influence in Every Walk of Life (Zondervan, 2016). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.