Peace is the Norm

February 11, 2015

Peace is the Norm

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Isaiah 26:3

Have you ever experienced perfect peace? I suspect the Apostle Paul had in mind Isaiah’s perfect peace when he wrote of “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Both Paul and Isaiah envisioned peace for those who trusted in God.

I have experienced moments of perfect peace, but I know I have not yet fully manifested the life in Christ as my way of life so that God’s perfect peace is a characteristic of the normal ebb and flow of my life. Like joy, peace is the norm for the followers of Jesus. Also like joy, our ability to experience God’s peace is influenced by our own brokenness. The foundation of joy is our awareness of the goodness of God who loves and accepts us just as we are today! The foundation of peace is trust.

I have found that I need to spend equal time considering the One I want to trust, and considering all the ways cultural conditioning has taught me to fend for myself. The more time I spend meditating on the character and integrity of God, as revealed in scripture and the life of Jesus, the more willing I become to trust in God to completely meet my needs for love, acceptance and a sense of self-worth. The more I practice the discipline of pausing before I speak, act or write, the more I become aware of how cultural conditioning has ingrained within me a need to find my needs for love, acceptance and self-worth fulfilled through my own performance.

It is an easy temptation to believe God should be more concerned with the forces of evil terrorizing His people across the globe, than He is with me learning to rest in His provision for my life, especially in such mundane things as interacting with others in a committee meeting. It is an easy temptation because it seems to make perfect sense, but it doesn’t make for perfect peace. Only learning to trust in the all-powerful, fully-present, completely-loving God, who confronts the forces of evil while being fully invested in my life, brings about perfect peace.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ  is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.