Give Peace a Chance

Whooooa, man...we're gonna, like, continue on the topic of the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. Today's totally far-out topic is Peace, man...

Ok, so I'm not going to talk like a hippie throughout this entire post (Thank God, right?)...but the funny thing is, whenever I think of peace, the first thing I think of is a hippie. When you look up peace, you get the typical definitions: freedom from war, mutual harmony between people or groups, public order and security, etc. All this is well and good, of course...peace among people should be a goal we should all strive for. Today we like to throw around the word peace, particularly in light of the war; I'm not going to take any political stance, but it's funny to see how some people want peace and are using such vitriolic speech to express it. Sorry, but that's not peace...it's anger under the guise of wanting peace. I hate to be a bummer here, but total peace (as in no wars, people being all lovey will not be coming any time soon, just read Matthew 24:3-14, particularly verse 6, which says, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass.." Now don't get me wrong here: should we pray for our troops? Yes. Should we pray for our leaders? Yes. Should we pray our brave soldiers come home safe? Yes! Is it OK to be anti-war? Yes...who likes war anyway? Is it OK to have political views about wars and conflict? Absolutely. But the reality, as evidenced in the Bible, is that the world is just going to get worse...so we should focus on reaching the lost souls before Christ returns!

What I'm getting at the most, though, is characterized by this definition of peace, "Freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity." Ah....THAT peace! Remember that bumper sticker that said, "No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace"? Well...it's true! This is the kind of peace, I think, that is meant in the Word...an inner peace, even when everything around you is going nuts. That peace is a product of our faith and relationship with Christ. A great example is that great story in Mark 4:35-40: Jesus went out to sea with the disciples and he fell asleep in the boat. A great storm arose and the disciples feared for their lives and awoke Jesus, basically saying, "Don't you care that we're gonna die?!" Here's the awesome part, Matthew 4:39, "Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm." Whoa. Jesus said "Peace" and the sea was tranquil...and He can do the same in our lives. We all know this truth: we will all see storms in our lives...that's a guarantee. But God send His Son to die for us so that we can have that peace...but we need to have faith in order to have peace. When Christ rebuked the storm, he turned to the disciples and asked "Have you no faith?" When Jesus walked on the water and Peter wanted to join Him, Peter succeeded for a bit...he HAD to have peace in order to do that...but when he became frightened of the choppy water, he began to sink...Jesus' reply: "Ye of little faith."

In John 14:27, Jesus says, " 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' " So there's the promise...Jesus has given us that peace, but picture it like a treasure chest that needs a key. The key is faith. It's hard to have faith sometimes when things start to pile up on you and get extremely difficult, but hold fast to God, because he's promised to get you through it all by Christ's sacrifice: John 16:33 says, " 'These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.' " I absolutely love this verse because it's so powerful and clear: Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has conquered sin, death, and all the troubles we can ever have in our lives! Praise the Lord! So when trouble comes, remember that Jesus loves you, Jesus died for you, and Jesus is WAY bigger than any of your problems. He will provide and you just have to believe in it! Always pray in times of trouble and ask for peace from the Lord...then you will be the person who is always calm when everything seems to be falling apart.

The Fruit of the Spirit: L is for the way you look at me...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. " ~ Galatians 5:22-23

After just chowing down on some chunky, unsalted organic peanut butter with raisins, I was thinking, "I would love to eat an orange right now." That stuff makes your mouth DRY! By anyhoo, it got me to thinking about what to post next...I don't normally do themes because half the time I can't remember what I'm doing, but this time I thought I'd give it a shot. I remember once sitting around with some friends at UNCC talking about what I'd teach if I was a small group leader for InterVarsity. I mentioned the fruit of the spirit as a cool topic. I like the Fruit of the Spirit because not only does it make you hungry, but it gives a very basic outline of how we're supposed to act: you know God doesn't want us actin' a fool here on earth! So here goes: each entry for the next while will be about one of the fruits of the spirit. Today? LOVE...

Love is a word that's thrown around a lot these days...I even do it myself: "I loooove chocolate!" See? I did it. Love has become a word that has lost a lot of meaning in society...so what does it mean? Dictionary.com defines loves as, "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person"...another definition says, "affectionate concern for the well-being of others"...and ANOTHER one says, "the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God." So let's take a look at these definitions: the first one is pretty straightforward - we love our friends, family, etc. I love my fiance...that's love as it's most commonly known by everyone. Once we start to go deeper, though, we begin to see what God is getting at through the scriptures, and also where we all falter.

When you really sit down and think about it, do we have affectionate concern for the well-being of others? Nah. We live in a world full of hatred, prejudices, and fears. The story of the Jena 6 has been in the news a lot lately and I'm not going to take sides on the issue but rather say this: it's an obvious example of people from all walks of life being complete imbeciles. People fight with each other, politicians argue with each other, people walk on the other side of the street when someone who looks different is coming the other way. What in the world is wrong with us? In Matthew 22:39, Jesus Himself said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It's a commandment from on High...we should be more compassionate. It isn't easy, not in the least bit...it's too easy to ignore the homeless man on the corner or the lady pulled over with a flat tire...it's easy to get caught up in life and not pray for those who struggle. If God has blessed you abundantly, then bless others...it's that simple. It doesn't always have to be monetary: it could be time, it could be physical assistance, it could be something as simple as a hello and a smile. We're naturally wired to think only about ourselves...we need to ask God to help us see others first...to see them in His eyes.

Still having difficulty? Look at it this way: Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. " We sure didn't deserve God's love and forgiveness...yet He gives it freely because of his undying love for us. Wow. Simply put, God loves us, so in return we must love. That's it, end of story. We must love God, we must love others, because that's how we show God to others. You don't have to run around hugging everyone, saying "I love you man!" or doing it out of a sense of obligation. No, rather do it out of a sense of compassion for others and a sense of thanksgiving for the love God's shown you. I know I need to work on it...and I think if we all made a conscious effort to obey what God's commanded, then we can make a tremendous difference in the world, because we need love to make our faith effective. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal." You see, if we don't love, then everything we've done is useless...just noise...because we can't reach souls, no matter how much of the Bible we've read or how many Christian songs we know. Faith, the Word, and prayer build the car...but love is the gas.

Jesus Paid it All...

I grew up in a church where we sang at least one hymn in every service...now I'm the first to admit that hymns can get a little dry from time to time or just plain weird (See: "God of Earth and Outer Space")...but now that I'm a little older and have some semblance of intelligence, I think about those old hymns and I realize that they were pretty awesome. Sometimes we sing hymns and immediately think "Man, this is boring" or what-have-you...but have you ever really sat down and read the words and reflected on them? A lot of them are beautifully well-written and capture the truth of God's word. Sure the language can be uncommon, but it's a good challenge and isn't THAT hard. From time to time, I'm going to try to pick a hymn and talk a little bit about it, because you can learn a lot about hymns from their history: my fiance and I went to a Selah concert in February and they do A LOT of hymns, but they also talked about the story behind those songs...and they took on a lot more meaning for me. A lot of churches today have gone away with hymns, and I've even witnessed worship leaders up on the pulpit saying they hate hymns...and I think that's kinda sad, because we'd have no Christian music today without those old hymns, in my opinion.

So here goes: in 1865 - Elvina Hall - a member of the Monument Street Methodist Church in Baltimore, MD was reflecting on her complete salvation through Jesus while her pastor was praying at a service. She felt compelled to write down her overwhelming thoughts and feelings and composed a poem entitled "Jesus Paid it All," which she wrote on the inside of their hymnal. She showed it to her pastor, who later met up with the church organist and found he had unknowingly written a tune that fit Elvina's poem. And there a hymn was born: through an overwhelming sense of thanksgiving for the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. To me this song says it all: through Jesus we can be healed, changed, energized, and protected....and when we finally meet Him face to face, we can say, "I couldn't do it by myself...but You did it for me!" So read the words, think about them, and thank God for the truths that are in those words:

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small! Child of weakness, watch and pray, find in Me thine all in all."

Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow'r, and Thine alone,Can change the leper's spots and melt the heart of stone.

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim-I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calv'rys Lamb.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,"Jesus died my soul to save," my lips shall still repeat.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain-He washed it white as snow.