Go In Peace

Sometimes we can make this life with God feel so difficult, so heavy, so complicated.

But this morning, as I was sitting quietly and finishing a passage in Scripture, I was reminded of how simple Jesus makes it.

In Luke 7, Jesus encounters a woman who had a past. A checkered past. A woman who had made decisions she likely wished she could take back. And honestly, as I read her story, it sounded familiar. It sounded like me. It sounded like all of us in one way or another.

She wasn’t coming to Jesus with credentials. She wasn’t coming with a perfect record. She came aware of her distance—not from religion, not from rules—but from relationship.

And in that awareness, she moved toward Him.

She served Him in a very simple and customary way for that time—washing His feet, anointing Him with oil, honoring Him. What’s striking is that Jesus pointed out that others, those who were seen as “religious,” hadn’t even extended those basic acts of kindness. But she did.

Why?

Because she saw Him. She believed in Him. She trusted Him.

And when everything settled, Jesus looked at her and said:

“Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Luke 7:50, NKJV)

Not your effort. Not your history cleaned up. Not your ability to follow rules.

Your faith.

Faith in what? Faith in Him.

Faith that He was the One who could restore what was broken. Faith that He was the One who could redeem her story. Faith that relationship with Him was the way forward.

And then He gives her something so powerful—peace.

Not a temporary feeling. Not relief based on circumstances. But something much deeper.

In John 14:27, Jesus says:

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (NKJV)

This is the same peace He was speaking over her.

A peace that doesn’t come from having everything figured out. A peace that doesn’t depend on life going smoothly. A peace that comes from being in relationship with Him.

And when you step back, this is exactly what Psalm 23 has been describing all along.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

It’s not about striving—it’s about being led.

“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”

He brings rest to our souls, not pressure to perform.

“He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

He restores what we could never fix on our own.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me.”

The promise isn’t a life without valleys—it’s that we are never alone in them.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies… my cup runs over.”

Even in the middle of difficulty, there is provision. There is abundance.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

This relationship doesn’t end. It carries us all the way home.

So when Jesus said to that woman, “Go in peace,” He wasn’t giving her something she had to work to maintain.

He was inviting her into a life where:

Faith replaces striving. Relationship replaces religion. And peace replaces fear.

That same invitation is still open to us today.

Not to get everything right. Not to clean ourselves up first. But to simply place our faith in Him.

And as we do, we find that what we were searching for all along…was never found in rules.

It was always found in the Shepherd.

Blessings, Andy