Who Do You Hear?

⁴² Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! ⁴⁴ For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! ⁴⁶ Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” – John 8:42-47

Here Jesus describes what the devil does and describes his character.  He destroys life (murderer) and always has.  He hates truth (Jesus and God).  There is no truth in him.  He lies – always.  He makes lies where none exist. 

So, He explains to those who are listening to Him that do not believe Him that they naturally don’t believe Him.  They can’t hear Him.  The words do not make it through the ear canals.  They can’t hear or understand because they follow the devil.  If the truth of the presence of the one living God can’t be heard and is determinedly not believed, there is only one reason why.  That person is not following God, but following the opposer of God.  The one who destroys life, hates God and lies. 

This is a remarkable confrontation as it shows how thick-skulled and determinedly stupid we are as lost sheep.  Jesus remarks as a confounded teacher whose students can’t understand a simple concept, “Why can’t you understand what I am saying?”  He then reasons to them the why, but they do not accept it.  How can they possibly not understand something he is saying?  They are the educated.  How can He possibly tell them they can’t hear?  How preposterous!  How absurd! 

Then Jesus tells them they follow the devil, their father.  As shocked as they are about being told that they can’t understand or even hear simple concepts, now He says they follow the devil – outrageous!!  How can anyone say such blasphemy?!  He is a bigot, He hates people, He is intolerant!!  He must be killed!

Jesus concludes this paragraph with “And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”  Yikes.  If you belong to God you gladly listen to His Words.  But if you don’t listen you don’t belong to Him.  Wow.  In this age of pastors preaching what they want to believe and not the clearly written Words of God, Jesus says powerfully that they are not listening to Him.  And anytime I do not want to hear His Word, I am not listening to Him, but to the devil. 

While that is very clear to understand, it is so difficult to be willing to grasp.  No one likes to be told they are what they really are.  Reality is hard to accept, but living apart from it is a fairytale and it can take years off your life.  The sooner we accept the reality of our sinfulness and decide to gladly listen to the Words of God and believe them, the sooner we enter life.

The Narrow Way

Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. – Matthew 7:13-14

Billy Graham commonly uses an analogy regarding this narrow path.  He considers that when we are on an airplane, we want the pilot to use a very specific and narrow approach to his landing.  We don’t want all the pilots just coming into the airport however they want and whenever they want because it would be chaos.  People would get killed.  We want our pilot to follow the guidelines of the flight controller and the guidelines for the runway’s approach to be at the right altitude and speed at the right marker so the plane is in the safest and best position to not hit another plane and to land safely.  Those landing approaches are very specific and very narrow.

Julie and I started a series by Andy Stanley yesterday entitled Right in the Eye.  The messages can be seen HERE.  This message series addresses the concept being pushed by our society that people can and even should do what they want, when they want, to whom they want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.  It is absolutely mind-blowing at how relevant this message is to every single thing we battle against in our lives today. 

I spoke to an older man the other day whom I have been friends with for decades.  I truly respect this man from the perspective of how he immediately is able to take his heart desire of loving someone and transform it into an action.  He is able to quickly in most cases perform an action that reflects his heart.  I seem to be so unable or insensitive to do this.  However, this man has had serious sin problems in his life as well.  I asked him, what is today’s biggest problem with Christians?  He answered that too many Christians are worldly Christians.  They live too deep into the society and not committed to holiness above everything else.  He confessed that this is his problem as well.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. – Judges 17:6 & 21:25.

Today, at least in my world, society is bowing long and low to living to do what is right in its own eyes with no defined or accepted moral compass.  God is no longer the king.  The religions supposedly based on God’s Word and designed to educate in knowledge, wisdom, and in action the holiness of God - are instead turning worldly.   They trade the narrow path for society’s wide path because they are unwilling to be rejected.  The religions seek acceptance from a society who does what is right in their eyes and rejects the Words of God that specifically indicate the narrow way we are to find eternity and to live. 

People are going to be hurt.  A society, or even a single person, cannot do what they want, when they want, to whom they want without hurting someone.  The Nazis proved this in a very extensive way.  Many thought that everything they were doing was right and many people were killed.  I do not see how, as a society, we think we can do the same and expect a different result. 

However, in such a society the church should stand apart and proclaim the truth, the life, and the way.  It must be intolerant.  Jesus Himself said the path is narrow.  He is the ONLY way.  God does not tolerate an alternate path to Him.  Follow the Messiah today and determine to walk on His narrow path.  

Field of Dreams

Matt 8: 20Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

I've never been satisfied with the commentaries on this verse.  All that I've read are much more obtuse than the verse itself.  This verse comes in the middle of a promise of commitment from a potential follower, but Jesus' response to this promise is this odd verse.  Clearly Jesus, who can uniquely know the motivations of the potential follower's heart, knew that this person would lack the commitment it takes to be an itinerant rabbi with no home in which to live, no home church in which to preach, etc. 

I think we often fall into what I call the "Field of Dreams" trap: if we build a nice building and orchestrate programs with worldly excellence, than people will flock to the doors of our church.  To be clear, I don't advocate anything less than our best for our Savior, but we need to study Him to know how to be like him.  He had a radical approach that would be equally radical today. 

First, He didn't build an all-inclusive band of followers.  In fact, in this series of exchanges, he turned away two people who were pledging to follow him.  So I don't feel pressured in any way (except by the world) to water down scripture and accept any behavior.  While today's world is telling us that it is politically incorrect to reject anyone because of their beliefs and resultant behavior, we can stand confidently in the God of the Bible who does not change and sets exactly one standard: Holiness (Lev 11:44-45, 19:2, 1 Ptr 1:15-16). 

Second, Jesus spent three years living into 12 lives.  He didn't build a mega church welcoming everyone he met into membership with no standards.  He didn't build a program or a building.  He built deep and abiding relationships with only 12 people.  I often worry that the worldly standards of job performance creep into our churches and we build expectations for our paid staff of 40 hours of service behind a computer working on communication strategies, lesson or sermon plans, and cool trips and fail to set expecations and allocate work hours to intentional visitation.  Furthermore, I bet when I mention visitation, we think of bereavement or hospital/nursing home visits.  It seems instead that the first priority should be visitation that seeks to discern spiritual maturity.  After all, Jesus even told one of the potential followers that they should let the dead bury their own and this person should follow Him now (obviously this person lived at home with a parent who was very much alive and He was putting off discipleship until this person passed away).  Jesus has an urgency first and foremost about our spiritual health. 

Finally, we should be mindful that the work of the church isn't limited to its paid staff. We are all called into the priesthood (1 Ptr 2:9) and we should be about the Lord's work in all that we do (Col 3:17). 

Is Forgiveness a Doormat?

An issue we seem to face today is, does being a Christian and continually forgiving and loving people  again and again make us the doormats of society?  Writer Natasha Dern said, “If people are constantly expecting you to give in, let go, forgive bad behavior, and accuse you of not being spiritual when healthy boundaries are established, then they are treating you like a doormat.”  It seems to me that many Christians are very unsure what are the rules of engagement.  Is it unloving to establish boundaries?  

One consideration is that Jesus said the 2^nd greatest commandment is to “love you neighbor as you love yourself”.  We are not loving ourselves very much if we put ourselves in a position to be disrespected, slandered, or in extreme cases violated by others.  That is not a demonstration of love or affection.  No one is going to grow closer to God by doing ungodly acts to others.  If we put someone in a position to do so, we are not encouraging their spiritual growth or ours.

Jesus also said we are to teach others how to treat us.  He said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”  This is commonly known as the Golden Rule.  If we continually allow someone to mistreat us, to disrespect us, to slander us to our friends and family, or to even physically abuse us, we are or have trained them to do this every time there is no confrontation to state it’s wrong.  When we do oppose this formed habit there will be resistance.  If we want to be treated differently then we need to train others how we want to be treated.  This training is directly related in how we interact with them.  While two tools we have are our words (communications) and our actions, our greatest tool is to pray for the direct interaction of God’s Holy Spirit in every word and in every action.  If someone is hell bent on opposing us, then we are fools if we do not adamantly ask for God’s protection so they can oppose the Spirit of God Himself. 

We need to consider in our responses to the threats, accusations, verbal attacks, and condemnations more than our pain (if we show it at all), but reflection of God’s Word.  Anyone who mistreats others, disrespects others, slanders others, or abuses others is really in a fight against God.  It is important for us to forgive them and not be resentful, but it is equally important to love ourselves enough to establish boundaries.  1 Corinthians 5:11 says, “I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one.”  And 2 Timothy 3:2-5 says, “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”  So the Bible tells us it is not rude or unloving to establish boundaries with others.  Forgiving someone does not mean they have the same place in your life they did before.  However, if there has been repentance, then there can be a re-establishment.  But forgiveness itself does not permit the same authority, respect, and allowed actions as before.

Finally, Psalm 34:11 says “depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”  How do you seek peace when you purposefully put yourself around people who mistreat you, attack you, or condemn you?  We have to very careful in our associations so that such people do not disrupt our communion with God or our walk with God.

We are required to forgive forever.  That forgiveness should not be with resentment.  It should be a complete work.  However, forgiving does not mean the relationship doesn't or shouldn't change.  It is often a work of love and sacrifice to establish boundaries.  Often it is also necessary so all parties involved have the greatest chance of growing closer to God.

Honey Sweet

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.  The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. – Judges 14:5-6

Imagine what you would feel if you were walking in the woods or in a field and suddenly saw a roaring lion or a charging bear moving towards you with the clear intention of tearing you apart as its next meal.  Can you feel the terror?  How about the desperation of what to do?  Is there a sense of overwhelming horror?

“Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people” (Proverbs 28:15).  The wicked ruler of this earth is the Opposer who wants to be God.  It is his desire that he would rule over all that is in the place of the only true living God.  In every way that people worship anything other than God, they are worshipping this evil one who battles against God.  Every time we choose to make a decision that is not in accordance with God’s Word, we are following Satan himself.  Therefore, the Scripture instructs in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he did the impossible.  He tore the lion apart.  Later, when he passed by the carcass of the lion, he found that honey bees had taken residence and he reached inside the carcass and scooped out a handful of honey and ate it.  He then posed this riddle to his intended to be wife’s family, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet” (Judges 14:14).

We are desperate in the face of a wicked ruler of this world who opposes the Lord God and seeks to destroy those the Lord loves.  His clear intention is to tear us apart and cause the most harm and destruction possible as opposition to God, we are just pawns in his game.  By contrast, the Lord loves each of us very intensely and purposefully, not willing that a single one of us would be destroyed.  Like Samson, unless the Spirit of God comes upon us, we are unable to stand in the face of such a tyrant.

This is the truth of life.  We choose to accept in our desperation the power of God’s Spirit into our very life and in so doing we are not subject to the terror and horror of a catastrophic death with nothing but an empty eternity.  God’s Spirit in us, through the redemption in Jesus, leads us powerfully and tears the work of Satan apart so that it only reveals the sweetness of the love, joy, and peace of God Himself.  It's our promised land, the land of milk and honey.  Praise God who is above all!!! 

No Longer Trying to Understand

¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. – Hebrews 5:11-14

I continue to be shocked, although I do not know why, at how many pastors give sway to society’s morals and tell us that things clearly stated in the Canon of Scripture, the Word of God, can be changed simply because they want it to be that way.  My shock quickly gives way to frustration as these pastors are supposed to be the learned ones, called by the Spirit of God Himself, to TEACH everyone the TRUTHS contained in HIS WORD.  That’s it!  If they can’t do anything else, can’t shepherd people, can’t share their life, can’t manage their way out of a paper bag, the only thing they should be able to do is teach the truths of God’s Word.   And I find my blood boiling simply hearing another and another have no faith in God’s Word, the very Word they are to teach others.

I have found that I can justify any sin I want to do at any time.  I am a conniving selfish baby when left to myself and I want what I want.  All I have to do is reason out some excuse through the experiences in my life.  I can even reason out a way that’s it’s better for me to sin because it “helps” someone else.  There is no limit to my hypocrisy.  A final method of justifying is to persuade the clear intentional direction Scripture provides.  I can find enough vague references and discuss society in those days to confuse enough people to buy in to my desire to get what I want.  It’s really not that difficult to convince babes who do not study or meditate on God's Word.

Just to be honest, let me make one thing perfectly clear, there are many things written in God’s Word that I wish weren’t there.  I do not know many people who can’t say the same.  The sinful man side of me would like to modify many verses so it suits me, so I can do what I want to do.  BUT, THAT WOULD TAKE NO FAITH.  If I’m going to lay on my death bed unable to be helped by my parents, my wife, my children, my job, my friends, my money, or anything else in this world and I’m going to rely only upon my faith in the Words of God regarding Jesus’s life, death and resurrection to escort me into eternity, then how exactly can I not rely upon those same Words that describe how to live life?  Either I have faith in the Words of God, all of them, or I have no faith at all.

Here in Hebrews we read that these people who have fallen away from God “no longer try to understand”.  This is exactly the way people who have an agenda to defend their actions with society’s morals react to any confrontation about their actions.  They do not try to understand.  In fact, they can’t.  Here we are taught that these same people no longer know righteousness and have to be re-taught the elementary truths of God.  Of which, is a complete trust in God’s Word.  The most basic concept of faith.

If we can’t believe in the Word of God as the Word of God and that His Word is the only life, then we need to burn all the Bibles and churches, go fishing on Sundays and do whatever we want, whenever we want, whyever we want. 

Believe or don’t believe.  Have faith or don’t have faith.  Do not claim faith then teach what you want to teach!  

Don't Worry!

Matt 6: ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Bobby McFerrin tells us "Don't worry, be happy!" and Bob Marley relays a message from Three Little Birds saying "Don't worry about a thing, every little thing gonna be alright."  Both lack the wisdom as to HOW to accomplish this no worry state. 
Scripture contains the necessary wisdom.  In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount after teaching us how to pray and reminding us not to store up treasures on earth, Jesus tells us that we are not to worry, but to rely on God.  In fact, that's not even an accurate reflection of what Jesus really said.  He said, in fact, to seek God first. 
Often we make decisions about what to do in our lives then ask God to bless it.  That would be consistent with a "Fully Rely on God" theology.  Yet what Jesus said is to seek Him first and THEN all these things will be given to you.  How often do we make a decision and ask God to bless it?  We're missing out on how to avoid worry.  Instead, we are to yield our will to Him, seek His will and then follow in obedience.  He didn't promise an easy life of no work.  Instead He referenced the birds that work diligently to gather what God has already provided.  The secret to a worry-free life is to seek God first in each and every aspect of our lives. 
How about you?  Have you decided what you're doing today, tomorrow, and in the future?  Have you asked God to bless those plans?  If so, you should worry!  You've taken the wrong approach.  Or perhaps you simply find yourself worrying about school, or relationships, or events in your future or the future of others.  Seek God first, allow Him to guide your steps, and you will unlock the secret to a worry-free life. 

It's not work, it's ministry

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

2 Cor 12:9  Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

This is an incredibly busy time of year for me.  In addition to all that is going on at work, there are studies to transition workload to other centers, a high profile failure review to oversee, and annual appraisals for some 60 engineers.  I can delegate some things, but not all.  It seems that each day is a series of battles and I return home feeling absolutely whooped and have to plug in my laptop and get back to work.  Oh, and my laptop is being upgraded and I'm stuck between old and new, I'm migrating from a Blackberry to an iPhone which isn't fully working, and other computer accounts on base are being interrupted all slowing the information flow process.  Agh!  Why now of all times?
In times like these when things are frustrating and I just can't seem to catch up that at the end of the day, I often forget that in everything I do, people are affected by the decisions I make.  Whether its their annual performance appraisal which directly reflects their contribution to our mission or a program decision, people's lives and livelihood are affected.  Often, people in DoD care more about program decisions than their annual appraisals and any paltry award they might receive. 
So I always say there is a zero percent chance that I'm going to get things 100% correct.  Yet, I know The One who knows everything.  I pray for His sustaining grace to fall in abundance today because I simply am running out of energy and intellect to make the right decisions and get everything done correctly. 
As I go about my business it seems critically important to remember that my ultimate calling is to the priesthood.  I may build bombs for a living, but my calling is to minister to God's people.  May I remember a couple of cliché's:  We are to love people and use things and we are to minister to people and execute programs.  May I not get those backwards. 

Stability

Every stable thing in your life will fail.  Are you prepared for your parents to die, or worse, to reject you?  Are you prepared for your business or department to which you’ve dedicated your career to careen off without you, or worse, to not need you?  Are you prepared for your children to leave your home and not look back?  Are you prepared for your church family to not be there when you need them, for the “paid Christians” (pastors/staff) to not help?  Are you prepared for your physical body to turn on you, for you mind to be forgetful and your strength to diminish?  Are you prepared for the guiding morals in the society you have lived your life to be rejected and for you to be rejected for supporting them?

Are you prepared to stand when the whole world and all that you know of it, love in it, and depend upon fails?

Are you enough when that happens or will you need someone you cannot see, that is unexplainable, and that promises to never forsake you and be with you forever? 

Sooner or later all of us will be on our deathbed and there is nothing in this world that we know that can help us.  Our parents, job, children, church, body, mind, or morals can do nothing for us at that moment, but watch.  This, unfortunately, is if we are blessed.  Too many people suffer the loss of seemingly everything while they are still very much alive.

There is only one answer and there has only ever been one answer.  That answer is the Creator who gave me life in the beginning.  The same Who brought Himself to deliver me from myself.   The One that stands with me and remains with me even when I reject Him.  The Eternal that walks with me through the transition into eternity. 

He alone is the only stability my life will ever know.  He is the only stability this world will ever know.  There simply is nothing else.  Men have tried for thousands of years to find something or someone somewhere or anywhere, yet He remains and always will in the face of man’s continued vanity.

“No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 3:11

Look around.  Every person I see will have their whole world crumble around them at some time.  What can I do to help them?  There is only one thing I can do and that is to show them and tell them as closely as possible as I can, being a sinner, how God would love them.  Everyone needs for me to be willing to stand in such a way. 

We all have a purpose.  The foundation of that purpose is to know that the only reality of life is the presence of God and He alone will remain with us through our existence if we accept that reality.  Then, we need to see everyone in that reality.  This alone will change every relationship and interaction with people you have.  

Dry Spells

Ez 37: 5This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
Ez 36: 27And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Although active in church and ministry, lately I've missed my daily devotions (or rant, depending) for various reasons.  I confess that regardless of intent, the result is a spiritual "dryness" that can only be satisfied through the nourishment of scripture.  So today I read Ezekiel 36-37 just to have scripture breath fresh life into my dry bones. 

I've been sorely tempted to fire off rants regarding new laws passed in North Carolina, Mississippi, and other states applauding their protections and chiding others for misrepresenting these laws as discriminatory.  I view these laws as protection for individual freedoms of small business and personal privacy, but I realize others see at differently.  Yet for whatever reason, God seemed to squelch the opportunity or the desire to do so. 

So I read Ezekiel and was reminded by chapter 36 that when God's spirit is within us, we are compelled to obey His laws.  The sad truth is that many who are debating these new human laws are venting their opinions without reference to or apparent knowledge of God's laws.  So today, rather than rant, I am simply mindful that as Christians we are filled with God's spirit and compelled by that Spirit to obey God.  If we argue over God's laws, then at least one of us isn't listening.  God gave us scripture so that the Spirit might illumine it, magnify it, and see it come to life within us through our actions and attitudes.  Failure to study scripture risks misunderstanding and misrepresenting the Author.  May I not be guilty of worshipping a false god or misrepresenting Him by ignorance of Him because I'm too lazy or self-centered to study His Word. 

Everyone has a stake in Easter

1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

I hope for many things: continued happiness in marriage, equal contentment in marriage and rewarding careers for my kids, success in my own career, to lose weight and be healthy, success in this turkey season and throughout the fishing season, and so on.  Without Easter, however, there is no hope at all in this world.  Jesus conquered death and in so doing provides us the source of all hope.  Without that hope of eternal life, everything else begins to lose value until it is meaningless.  After all, what good is a career or any accomplishments in this life if there is no legacy, no eternal significance, no change to a world doomed to death?  We might as well live a self-centered life focused on personal pleasure for the fleeting time we are here if there is no eternity.  Why build up our fellow man, or contribute to science, knowledge, society, or living standards at all if all we do is live a short, pitiful life and die?  Even Paul admitted that if we place trust in Jesus only for what it gets us in this life, we are to be pitied (1 Cor 15:19).  There must be more beyond my own little self-centeredness and earthly existence. 
When the tomb was found empty, God revealed that death isn't final.  If death isn't final, there is hope for eternal life.  The context of hope for eternal life gives purpose and meaning to our earthly lives.  Suddenly self-improvement, helping others around us, and worshipping God has meaning and value not only in this life, but beyond it as well. 
Regardless of whether you're an active Christian, a "Christmas and Easter" church attender, someone of another faith, or claim to be atheist, you have a stake in Easter.  Without the resurrection, you're subjugating your hopes and dreams to the randomness of a world evolving with no purpose, direction, or meaning and one that exists only for a few fleeting years.  Without resurrection, there really is no hope at all.  There is no hope for your marriage, no hope for your career, no hope for your kids, no hope for your next meal or even your next breath outside the fact of Jesus' resurrection.  You may realize short-term gains, but in the end it all goes away with no significance to you or value. 
Jesus' resurrection not only conquered death, but provides a meaningful rationale for all hope.  So if you have hopes and dreams for this life, you have a stake in the resurrection that we celebrate today whether you admit it or not.  Why not embrace the eternal significance of the source of all hope?

Living in Peace

What image do you conjure up in your mind when someone talks about peace?  Is it one where there is an absence of hostility and no civil disturbances or war in society?  Maybe it’s openness of nature, big blue skies, open green fields, or maybe a long white beach and clear blue ocean stretching out in front of you – the absence of noise, pollution, clutter and concrete.  Or maybe it’s the lush of a jungle with varieties of non-dangerous animals and vegetation everywhere embracing you.

I hardly ever remember my dreams, unlike my wife who wakes up with a new dynamic crazy dream story every morning.  She remembers them all.  But when I was a teenager, there was one recurring dream I could remember.  It was odd and it was a dream of moving scenes.  One scene would be calm, blue skies, green fields, fresh air in a cool breeze, and the warmth of sunshine on your skin.  The next would be gray skies, dirty concrete buildings, trashy sidewalks, roads with cars everywhere honking, emergency vehicles rushing somewhere with sirens blaring, the smell of exhaust fumes or trash from the city streets and a cold clammy feeling touching the skin.  Then back to the peace of nature, then back to the anarchy of the city.  Over and over.  I still don’t know what it means or meant.  I just know it was the only dream I could ever remember.

The Bible word for peace uses the Hebrew root “slm”.  This word as a verb has a static meaning of “to be complete or whole” and a dynamic meaning of “to live well”.  When used as a noun as “salom” it fits into one of four categories: (1) wholeness of body (health); (2) right relationship between people or God, as in a covenant; (3) fulfillment in prosperity or success; (4) victory over one’s enemies or the absence of war.  When using “salom” in a greeting or farewell, the Hebrew are essentially saying, “May your life be filled with health, prosperity, and victory.”

An important part of faith is recognizing that God is the only Authority.  His influence and Word in our life is the best for our lives whether we understand it or not and especially if it isn’t what we think we want.  Certainly the Creator knows better about what we really need for fulfillment than we do with our wants for temporary happiness.  How foolish we are!  We are sheep - stupid, dumb, nasty sheep.

God is the only one who can fulfill us or cause us to be complete or whole – to be in peace.  He alone is the only one who can balance health, prosperity, victory, and complete everything in righteousness.  He alone is peace. 

Living in Peace is to live in the presence of God Himself through the person of Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.  This alone is heaven.  It is a treasure above all else to the wise who thirst after it “as a deer pants for water”.  So many in the world search for peace and are completely unaware that they are really searching for God. 

Where do you need peace today?  In your marriage?  Your job?  Your family?  Be aware that you need God there so be sure to focus on your relationship with Him first so you can bring peace with you to those relationships.  With the reality of God in you in those relationships, in the least there will be peace in you and the capacity and capability for God to then change everyone around you. 

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:7