Undeserved, amazing peace . . .

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:2)

Peace is often thought of as an absence of conflict, a feeling of well-being because there are no problems that disturb it. However, the Bible defines peace as being more powerful than serenity. It is rooted in God, who is called “the God of peace” and in His goodness and sovereign power. Because I know that God is involved in all that happens, I can be at peace, not anxious or in fear.

What causes anxiety and ruins peace? In Eden, it was a lie from Satan. He suggested to Eve that God did not say what He said or really wanted the best for her. His tactics haven’t changed much. He does whatever he can to make me think contrary to God’s Word and doubt that God is involved in my life. Lack of faith in God’s goodness and sovereign power will ruin my sense of well-being and rob me of peace. It leads me to depend on externals rather than Him and His promises, and to rely on myself and my own judgment. In other words, if peace is missing sin is likely present. The Bible says, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Sin and peace cannot walk together — unless I’m totally deluded that my sin is okay, yet even then, that peace is fake and nothing like the peace of God. In fact, God’s peace is often a surprise, even a mystery:

Do not be anxious about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6–7)

God’s peace is incomprehensible. It simply does not make sense. Why should I feel at peace with chaos all around me? Why should I experience peace when my husband was ill to the point of death? Or my children were in physical danger? Or when life is full of losses, or negatives? This peace from God makes no sense during those times when many people are taking valium, drinking to forget their problems, ill from stress, or even choosing suicide.

Sometimes this peace is accompanied by a joy so great that I feel ‘survivor’s guilt’ when listening to the news or someone’s sad news. Our Christmas was blessed, but people died in snowbanks in their cars. I cried, yet that peace would not go away even then. I’m thankful for many blessings such as healthy and productive children. Yet other families are weeping with kids in jail, on drugs, or running away from home. Who am I to be so blessed?

The Bible speaks of grace along with peace. Grace is ‘God’s riches at Christ’s expense’ — it is God’s great kindness toward those who are undeserving of His favor but who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. MacArthur says, “grace is the fountain, and peace is the stream.” Recipients of His grace enjoy “peace with God” because we are reconciled to Him through faith in Jesus. I will never experience His wrath. I also have the “peace of God” — again His amazing way of assuring me that He is in control even amid difficult circumstances. No matter what this new year brings, it will bring peace to God’s people. Our part is refusing to allow sin or difficulties to sway our total trust in the reality that God is God!

I could list reasons to be anxious. Just that long to-do list is enough to mess with my peace, never mind the inevitable interruptions and life’s unexpected surprises. The daily news can do it, or the winter weather, or contrary people . . . or a whole list of stuff. But God says to bring all those things to Him, and be thankful, because “He can do exceedingly abundantly more than I can ask or imagine” as He guards my heart and mind with His amazing peace.

This makes application simple: Sometimes I feel like ‘God’s spoiled brat’ and must never take credit for His gracious blessings. Instead, I must pray about everything and be thankful, knowing that God is taking care of everything and is my sole source of peace.

REFERENCES: John 16:33, Romans 5:1; 14:23, Ephesians 1:2;3:20, Philippians 4:4-7

God’s Goal is . . .

Beginnings are more appealing than endings. When something is finished, it’s too easy to spot the flaws and wish they had not happened. Starting anew is about hope, about another chance to do what I learned from the past. I’m not as future-oriented as my hubby, but on this first day of a new week and a new year I have that excitement of starting again.

John MacArthur’s devotional from his book Drawing Near — Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith, asks at the end: “What is the goal of your salvation? Are you living each day in light of that goal?”

I know God’s goal for me; it is transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells me that will be final and complete when I see Him face to face, but the process began when I was saved and became His workmanship:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

This process is about being godly, not about getting my name in lights as a great person, artist, writer, philanthropist, educator, or anything else the world might give, such as me a trophy or award for accomplishment. A few key verses spell it out:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him . . . . (Ephesians 1:3–4)

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age . . .  (Titus 2:11–12)

One example is the Apostle Paul. He could say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” even though his experience never exalted him in the eyes of many. He worked hard, experienced many imprisonments, countless beatings, and was often near death. He was whipped, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked; adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, robbers, his own people, from Gentiles, in the city, in the wilderness, at sea, and from false brothers. His diary records toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, without food, in cold and exposure, yet he could say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

He knew what many don’t know or understand. His life was hidden in Christ, and he did not have “have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” and that “according to the riches of his glory” he had been granted strength and power through the Holy Spirit in his inner being.

MacArthur says God is more interested in my faithfulness than my accomplishments. I live in a success-oriented world and am drawn to success stories, whether it is a sleuth who solves crime or a lost-cause rising above all opposition to succeed. God’s standard for success is not like that. He says,

You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15)

God is not impressed by status or wealth. He looks for faithfulness. I want him to say to me: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Since I am His workmanship, the goal of my salvation, and the goal He puts before me in this new year is to do those good works that He has prepared beforehand, realizing that He has blessed me in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose me in him before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and blameless before him.

By grace I have been saved and that grace also is at work, training me to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age” What better resolution to make at the beginning of a new year than to cooperate with God’s goal for me!

OTHER REFERENCES: 1 John 3:1-23, 2 Timothy 4:7, 2 Corinthians 11:23–27, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 3:9, Ephesians 3:16, Matthew 25:21, Ephesians 1:3–4, Titus 2:11–12