Peace

Anxiety and distress are often the result of our misplaced focus.  We are too easily discouraged by the duties and difficulties of life.  It is true that there are many things that require our attention but it is for this reason that we must be diligent to ground ourselves in the provision, promises and person of God.

The Lord, our God, wants for us to have peace.  Christ declared this Himself, “peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27).

He gives us His peace and commands us that we maintain that peace, even in the midst of stressful/anxiety causing circumstances.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).  This command, “be anxious for nothing” is supported by this directive “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Do not remain in a continued state of anxiety, instead in every circumstance pray with thanksgiving to God.

Yes, pray and give your anxieties to the Lord.  But why “with thanksgiving?”  Elsewhere we are commanded “in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  It is God’s will that we be thankful people.  That makes sense because God is good thus it is good for us to give Him thanks.  But it is more than that.  For when we give thank, when we make a discipline of giving thanks, we are forced to think on the goodness of God to us in the past.  And certainly as we are made to recall the goodness of God to us in the past we are encouraged as we face the uncertainties of tomorrow.  Thus God has built into His command “give thanks” one of the primary mechanisms of our encouragement in turbulent times.  Remember His provision.

Take time this week to try to list as many things as possible for which you may give thanks.  Review them together with your family or friends and give thanks for the goodness of the Lord.

Again, the Lord wants for us to have peace.  He gives us His peace and commands us to abide in His peace by remembering His provisions as we make supplication before Him.  Additionally we are reminded in 1 Peter 1:3 that we have been “born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.”  The world hopes in that which is passing.  The Christian hopes in that which is eternal.  We have a Savior whom death itself could not hold!  And this same Savior who promised that He would rise again, has secured for us an inheritance which is “imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for us” (I Peter 1:4).  This is the manifold grace of God, not just that He has saved us in the past, but much more that He has promised future grace to us.  Thus Peter also says “…fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:13).  Fix your hope on that grace.  Set your affections on that grace.  Remember His promise.

Take time this week to talk with another believer (or unbeliever) of the hope that we have of future grace.  Encourage one another with these precious truths.

Finally as we were reminded through our Sermon on Sunday, “the nearness of God is our good.”  We need not fret when we see evildoers prosper.  We need not envy their prosperity.  Their prosperity is empty and fleeting.  As a vapor it will soon disappear.  And its place will be filled with the horror of the wrath of the Almighty God.  But not so for the believer.  The believer is made to know the goodness of the Lord in the present and has as His hope a greater experience of the goodness of God in the future.  Indeed we say joyfully with David, “the nearness of God is my good!”  Remember His person.

Stay close to the Lord this week.  Do whatever you must to make sure that your thoughts are ever with Him.

We are too easily discouraged by the difficulties and duties of life.  The Lord, our God desires for us to be a people filled with His peace.  To this end, we must be diligent to remind ourselves of His provision, His promise and of the goodness of His person.

I pray that the Lord would grant you His peace this week as you continue to labor for His glory!

“The steadfast mind you will keep in perfect peace because He trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3

Suffering and difficulty

I won’t claim to have experienced the greatest suffering and difficulty that life may bring.  I know that I am far from it.  Sure I have had difficulty and frustration in life but I know that there are many others who experience daily physical, emotional and spiritual pain and even persecution for the cause of Christ.

But the more I think about it, I am becoming convinced that God intends for pain to act as a cleansing agent for those who are His.  We are not of this world.  We are aliens and sojourners.  But sometimes we forget this.  Sometimes we are persuaded to think of this life as our sole reason for existence.  We think of this world as our home and its joys as the greatest or best that there is…

But, beloved, God has promised us so much more than that.  He has promised us an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, unfading and which is reserved for us in Heaven, an inheritance which He has promised to keep us safe in order to receive, according to 1 Peter.  That is what we have to look forward to.   That is our hope.  We do not hope like the rest of the world that things will “just turn out okay.”  We do not hope against hope or hope in hope…whatever that means.  We hope in the eternal rest and blessing that is promised to those of us who are in the Son whom the Father has given all things.  We hope in Christ and His return.  We hope in the day that He ushers in Peace, Justice, Righteousness, Prosperity; the time where there will be no more wars, no more turmoil, no more uncertainty, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more sickness and no more death.  That time will not happen until after our Lord returns for us.  Therefore that is what we hope for.  We hope for His return and we look forward to it.  We have no other hope.   We have no greater thing to look forward to.

When suffering and difficulty come…do not fret…be not anxious, nor be afraid.  Think of it as the Lord’s way of continuing to prepare you for His rest.  If you are sick or dying, do not fear.  Think of it as the Lord’s way of shedding you of your earthly tent so that you may finally put on your heavenly one.  If you are without…fill in the blank…in this life; think of it as the Lord preparing your heart to desire more the riches that are imperishable, not defiled by sin and everlasting.

Maranatha!