Tuesday, September 25, 2012

25 September: Chained to Peace

You may have noticed in the last couple of weeks a darkening of my thoughts.  I’m trying to share honestly about my life as a Christian which involves trusting and loving God even when life is dark or challenging or just plain tiring!  That is life, Christian or not, I imagine.  There are great years and hard ones, wonderful times and sad times.  And I must admit that many of my problems are what you would call first-world problems.

But I was trying to list how I feel the other day and I realised that there was one word that trumped them all.  I feel at peace.  I feel grief, physical sickness, uncertainty, disconnection.  Those things are there and they are true and they define much of my thought.  But they do not own me.  I am chained instead to the peace of God. 

How can this be true?  How can this be possible?  I do not know.  I only know that the Bible told me it would be and for the first time in my life I understand the words of Paul in Philippians 4, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4 v 6-7).

There is so much I don’t know or understand in my life right now.  But I feel certain that God is here with me and that he will answer my questions and lead me out to new understanding, new relationships and greater truth.  And that certainty brings peace. 

It is so humbling.  Who am I that God would care for me? I am no different than you, I am no more spiritual or more worthy of God.  So if these words can be true for me I believe they can be for you too.  Whatever you are facing today take action on the words of first Peter “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5 v 7), and I believe you will find that the Lord, today, will care for you.  I believe it because it is true for me, the worse among sinners.

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