Elusive Peace
I need this time together, Father. Speak to my weary soul. Use this brain of mine to communicate Your word to a world in search of it, whether they realize it or not. Amen.
1 Corinthians 1:3 (<<click here to read the passage)
Peace. We are all in search of it. But on many fronts, it is elusive. We think we find it, and “poof” it vanishes before our very eyes. World peace? Many pursue it with a vengeance but, I for one, don’t think we, in and of ourselves, will ever accomplish it. When we get right down to brass tacks, we cannot ever truly find (or at least hang on to) peace because humanity is incapable of achieving it.
I think when we really get down to it, sin is a peace breaker. As long as sin is influencing our lives, peace cannot last. Outside forces, as well as, inside struggles make it impossible to maintain it. My Life Application Bible states, “In a world of noise, confusion, and relentless pressures, people long for peace.” We have an insatiable hunger for it, but unfortunately many give up the search, thinking it impossible to find…
But there is hope. It is not impossible to find. We just must be willing to see beyond ourselves. In today’s verse, the Apostle Paul says,
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. NLT
Grace is God’s free gift of salvation given to us in Christ.
Paul proclaimed in Romans 5:1,
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. NLT
Once that connection is made – renouncing our sin and entering into that relationship with Christ – and note I said nothing about joining a church or some “religious” organization – once we have wholeheartedly entered into that relationship with Christ, then He graciously gives to us what He has…peace.
Jesus said in John 14:27,
Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.] AMP
There is our answer as plain as day! So, why do we hesitate? Personally, I’ve experienced that peace in the past and still somehow end up outside the peace Christ extended to me. The problem again is sin… Letting down our guard, instead of diligently clinging to our Savior, allows sin to breach our defenses, and “poof”, peace vanishes before our eyes.
Christ has done everything possible to bring us His peace. We cannot earn that salvation that brings peace, but may we follow the words of Paul as found in Philippians 2:12b-13,
…continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. AMP
Amen.
Sept 18th, 2023, Mon, 7:42 pm
Dewey Spider Webs
Father, I am grateful for Your presence and care throughout another busy weekend. There was a lot to do, and we made it through with nary a scratch. All praise to my loving Heavenly Father!
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Something that I have seen multiple times this year on my morning routes on those heavy dew mornings is lots of spider webs. They are gloriously laden with droplets of dew reflecting the light of the early morning sun. Along fence rows, or in overgrown fields and brush along the sides of roads I see them. Not just one…or two…but literally hundreds of them!
They are beautiful…but thinking about it a bit, it’s pretty creepy. Spider webs don’t just magically appear out of thin air and the name of them gives a very obvious clue as to their origin…spiders! Hundreds of webs correlate with hundreds of spiders! I would dare say that we don’t think about that too much when we walk across open fields or through a bit of brush for the most part – unless we happen to catch one across our face.
I’m not going to say I would enjoy a spider crawling on my arm or over my cheek. But I’m not one to freak out every time I see one. (My sister-in-law, God love her, is one of those kinds of people – even a picture of a spider gives her the willies!) This summer weeding around our flower beds I saw plenty of them, but it didn’t stop me from working. If I saw one in the area, I would shush it away, having no desire to hurt it or squish it picking up the debris I accumulated.
In our daily lives, temptation abounds. It quite often is not obvious, and we don’t always see it until it smacks us in the face…but it is there. It may lightly brush through our semi-conscious mind. Often it is hardly noticed, and we continue on our way, but other times it quickly grabs our attention. It then becomes a matter of choice. Do we examine it more closely? Do we dwell on it fascinated by its allure? Or like most often with spiderwebs, do we scramble as quickly as possible to get it off and move quickly to distance ourselves from it?
I don’t know of anyone who would even pause for a second to consider leaving a spiderweb on their face…but unfortunately do it all the time with temptation.
In reality, a spiderweb is just a nuisance. (I have never had a spider cling to its creation that is now stuck to my face!) Temptation, on the other hand, has a far greater possibility of leading us into sin. And that can develop into a life-or-death situation – at least spiritually.
Dew-laden spiderwebs may be beautiful in God’s great green earth, but we don’t see them as an invitation to run through them. Temptations may be overwhelmingly enticing but let’s not embrace them either.
In Matthew 26 we are told of Jesus’ trials in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is about to enter His most trying times leading into His suffering and death. He asks His disciples to pray with Him and finds them sleeping. He says these words.
“Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” v41
Lord Jesus, may we follow Your words of guidance. Amen.
Sept 17th, 2023, Sun, 8:43 pm
May the Welcome Stick!
What a day! What a week! What a month so far! Father, my schedule has been full, to say the least, but You have surely been in the midst of it all. I have not been entirely overwhelmed but I am weary. Father, use me in it all despite myself. Amen.
1 Corinthians 1:1-2 (<<click here to read the passage)
I would think that at some point, and probably many points, in our lives we’ve been invited to be a part of something that maybe we’ve never experienced before, and other times it was something not totally new to our experience but in a different setting with different people.
When I was a freshman at Mt. Vernon Nazarene College, I saw an invitation to take part in a play – The Great Physician. It was a story built around the Biblical character of Luke, a physician by trade, who wrote the Gospel that bears his name and the Book of Acts.
The high school I attended from 10th-12th Grades didn’t do those kinds of things at the time, so this was new territory for me. I had a very small supporting role, but I must say it was a lot of fun. I played a slave owner, and my only line was “Stop! Or I’ll have you boiled in oil!” One thing that sticks out in my mind was they colored my brown beard with black mascara!
New friends and new experiences for a very naïve, wet-behind-the-ears young man, but I was welcomed into the “established” family of the theater. (The college at that time didn’t have a performance hall so we used Mt. Vernon’s Memorial Theater – a post-World War I venue.) What an experience! I’ve never done anything like it since, but it was wonderfully fulfilling.
I didn’t stop participating because I was not welcomed, but simply because my life went in different directions after that.
Later, after Karen and I got married and moved back to relatively close proximity to Mt. Vernon, we began searching for a church to attend. We visited a couple, and the initial visits proved unfruitful. They were good, solid, impacting churches with good pastors doing good things. But despite those things, the welcome didn’t stick. We soon visited another church and it fit us perfectly – so much so that we were an active part for 10 years, 5 of which I served on staff as their Pastor to Families with Children. It was a wonderful interaction with wonderful people, many of whom are wonderful friends, now 20-plus years down the road. They extended an open invitation – we accepted and were rewarded!
As the Corinthians were, so are we called by God to be his own holy people. Everyone has an open invitation from God Himself to be his holy people. All are welcome, none are rejected who come wholeheartedly before Him. We are made…holy by means of Christ Jesus. The Amplified Bible states that we are sanctified (set apart, made holy) in Christ Jesus.
I sure pray that you have accepted his invitation! It’s not complicated, just acknowledge your wrongdoings and accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation. Truly the rewards are out of this world fantastic! Eternity is before us but the earthly benefits of being a part of this family are incredible as well! I pray His welcome sticks!
Sept 13th, 2023, Wed, 8:17 pm
It’s OK to Blend In, Isn’t It?
Father today seems to have been one of those wheel-spinning kind of days. I touched a lot of things, but it feels like I didn’t make it very far with any of them. May this time be productive as only You can make happen. Amen.
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Well, yesterday’s post wrapped up my journaling of the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the church in Rome. I wrote an introductory post over a year ago (Aug. 30, 2022, to be exact) and though I have shared many posts that stepped away from Romans – throwbacks from past years, and random writings about things I’ve seen or experienced – we have come along way from that day’s post, Because It Is Meaty!
So today, we begin on another journey covering another one of Paul’s epistles, 1 Corinthians. And as is often the case, my Life Application Study Bible sets us off on the right foot.
Most of us are familiar with chameleons. The basics is that to some degree they can change colors, blending in with their surroundings. Also, many creatures in God’s great creation have the ability with their individual coloring to not easily be seen in their environment – deer, rabbits, artic foxes, Eastern Screech Owls, and Stick Insects to name a few.
Out of necessity, for survival or to make them more formidable hunters, it’s natural to fit in and adapt to the environment.
But what about us? What about those who have given their lives over to Christ? We are new creations, born from above and changed from within, with values and lifestyles that confront the world and clash with accepted morals. True believers don’t blend in very well.
And there lies the problem. What is our natural tendency? To blend in…we don’t like sticking out. Most of us abhor being different. Many work very hard to blend in, to be like everybody else. The thing is salt doesn’t mask flavors; it enhances them! Light doesn’t help us hide things; it exposes them – it brings them into clearer focus! And that is what we are called to be in Christ.
So, that is where the work begins. The Apostle Paul addresses many things in his writings to those affiliated with the body of Christ in Corinth. The city of Corinth was a hot mess – using a common current vernacular, and it was rampant with sin – enticing sin, luring sin. And the church was being undermined by immorality and spiritual immaturity. The believers’ faith was being tried in the crucible of immoral Corinth, and some of them were failing the test.
Paul heard of their struggles and wrote this letter to address their problems, heal their divisions, and answer their questions. Paul confronted them with their sin and their need for corrective action and clear commitment to Christ.
Our world is not that much different…is it? Won’t you join me as we journey together into the teachings of Paul? If we are determined to follow, the finish line will be victory!
Sept 12th, 2023, Tues, 6:08 pm
Keep the Worm Out of Your Line of Vision!
A busy day with many things happening simultaneously, Father, but I can feel your calming hand in it all. Help me to continue moving forward, in the direction You know is best. Amen.
Romans 16:17-27 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the most dangerous tendencies in the body of Christ is that far too often believers are as gullible as a fish with a worm before its eyes – except the problem is the worm has a hook through it. The worm can’t get away, but soon neither will the fish.
Sometimes we are too naïve and trusting for our own good. We hear a preacher say something with authority straight from the pulpit and “gulp”, we swallow it whole. We don’t question it. We don’t verify it. We don’t check any of it out, we just accept it.
Probably one of the biggest sources of misinformation that we take for the gospel truth is things posted on social media. We see and think, “Oh, man, that’s awful! People need to know this!” and without any research whatsoever we immediately hit the share button.
In societal and political scenarios, it is most certainly devastating but on a Scriptural end of things? We must do our homework!
Looking at my study Bible* notes on verses 17-20 it reads,
When we read books or listen to sermons, we should check the content of what is written or said so that we won’t be fooled by smooth talk and glowing words. Christians who study God’s Word, asking him to reveal the truth, will not be fooled, even though superficial Christians may easily be taken in.
An example given in the notes was to look at Acts 17:10-12. I once again read through my post on that passage and would encourage you to do the same. Click here on the title to do so – Seek Out the Truth.
That post goes a little deeper but basically, Paul and Silas were teaching the Bereans and the last part of Acts 17:11 says,
They [the Bereans] searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. NLT
Don’t be hoodwinked. Don’t be reeled in. And this may hurt a little…but don’t be lazy. Don’t just assume that what you’re hearing and seeing from what you hold to be a reputable and upstanding source is spot on. Check it out. Affirm the truth for yourself under God’s supervision and keep the worm out of your line of vision!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Sept 11th, 2023, Mon, 1:00 pm