Colossians 3:15

“Let the peace of Christ rule [or “act as arbiter”] in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Col. 3:15 NASB).

“Arbiter: a person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority in a matter.”

Colossians 3:15 means that, no matter what’s going on in my heart, however bruised, broken, and bleeding and however unwilling to push on and keep beating, I can choose to allow the same peace that Christ brought to earth, to have the final say over my heart. “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6 NIV). Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, makes it possible to govern my mind and heart with peace.

In my opinion, the ultimate peace is reconciliation—reconciliation with God through Christ, and His attitude of reconciliation toward my wandering heart. During the Christmas story, at the birth of Christ, earth receives peace when God receives glory. In much the same way, during my small story, my heart receives peace when my heart receives and glorifies the authority of God. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”

In other words, hear this quote by Lewis Smedes:
“We, the unclean, are not just washed; we are in the Holy One forever. We, the rebellious, are not just pardoned; we are in the King forever. We, the sad, are not just encouraged; we are in the Blessed One forever. We, the defeated, are not just empowered; we are in the Victor forever. We, the confused, are not just instructed; we are in the Sage forever. This is radical reconciliation, full provision, an astounding advantage.”

Dear Jesus, be for me my Prince of Peace.  Reach into the cracks of my life and the brokenness of my heart and fill them with You.  Direct my life in Your will.  Unify me in Your love. Govern my mind and my body and rule in my heart.  I am so thankful for all You are to me. 

Dear Jesus, be for the church the Prince of Peace. Reach into the cracks of her traditions and the brokenness of her people and fill them with You.  Direct the church of God in Your will.  Unify the church in Your love. Govern the minds, lives, and hearts of Christians.  Give us a spirit of unending gratitude for the gospel of peace.  Thank you for reconciling us and redeeming us forever. Amen.

 

A Prayer

Dearest Lord Jesus,
I don’t know how to feel or who to be.  Please show me who You want me to be.  I’m confused.  I took a step toward my heart, but I still don’t have any answers. 

It’s hard for me to embrace this constant unknown future.  How do I plan?  What is the plan?  Should I be trying to plan?  If it’s me, if I’m supposed to take a “leap of faith,” when do I jump?  I can’t fool myself into thinking that this trampoline I’m on is real faith in You.  I’m restless.  I need an adventure.  I want to go.   

Prepare my  heart, Jesus.  Make me walk on Your paths and not grow weary.  Help me to die to self and live for You.

Preserved

God is my preserver who saves and keeps me and uses me for His purpose when He wills to, and however He wills to.

Does the grape in the hand of the Gardener ever feel “cut off from before [God’s] eyes” (Psalm 31:22)? Does it not know that the Gardener has plans for it and that he will keep it and save it for some special time or event that will bring God glory? “For the Lord preserves the faithful” (Psalm 31:23b).

But until that time, the grape may be pressed on all sides. It may be strained and poured out. It may be set out in the summer heat, or stored away in a cold, dark cellar. And it could be left alone for a very long time.

Through it all, the grape is still in God’s sight and is kept in the Gardener’s care. He knows what’s best for the grape. He knows how to prepare it and what to prepare it for.

If it knew all this and had the choice, I don’t think the grape would want to be preserved, but the Gardener knows that the end result will be sweet.

“For the Lord preserves the faithful” -Psalm 31:23b

Am I feeling crushed? Am I strained? Am I poured out? Am I wrinkled and aging? Am I alone in the darkness? Let it be for God’s glory. I am just a grape being preserved for something sweeter.

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
– Psalm 34:17-19

There’s a company that creates eco-friendly products called “Preserve.” Their slogan is “Nothing wasted. Everything gained.”

God, Who made me, will not waste me. He will not forsake me. He gave His Son’s life for me, and so much more! God, Who loves me, will preserve me.

“I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
– 2 Timothy 4:17b-18

God’s Slave

On February 5th, my mom shared with me the devotional from “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers. You can read it here:
http://utmost.org/are-you-ready-to-be-poured-out-as-an-offering-1/

It talks about something that most people don’t like to think about: being a sacrifice, being a servant, a slave, a ‘doormat’.

Chambers says, “It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a ‘doormat’ under other people’s feet.”

This devotion convicted me. Is serving God in the seemingly menial ways “beneath [my] dignity”? What if, like Jeremiah, God told me to speak His message no matter what, even at the same time as telling me that those listening “will fight against you” (Jeremiah 1:19)? Could I stand to become abased for the sake of the Gospel, God’s message, and God’s kingdom?

I really don’t like thinking about this. I do not enjoy feeling like a nobody–vulnerable. Whenever I’m told that Christians need their Christianity as a crutch, that they are weak people, that they are stupid ‘doormats’, I’m immediately provoked to whack the naysayers with the Sword of the Spirit, and oblige them to turn their other cheek.

I am NOT a doormat! You can’t walk on me!

But I should remember Paul’s words:
“For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:22,23).

Concerning this, “Barnes’ Notes on the Bible” states that “freedom from sin is the highest blessing that can be conferred upon people; and if that is yours, you should little regard your external circumstances in this life. You will soon be admitted to the eternal liberty of the saints in glory, and will forget all your toils and privations in this world.”

In other words, I AM a slave: I am God’s slave. He bought me. He redeemed me. The words of Jesus should be my example–“Not MY will, but YOUR WILL, God.” His love sets me free. How much better to be in chains for Christ than to be enslaved to my sin!

But I know very little of chains. I know little of suffering and persecution.

So, yes, I am nothing, I am a loser, a doormat, I am abased and broken and scarred and fallen and unworthy–without Jesus Christ. Yet, God loves me enough to give His Son to die for me and let me live for Him!

If I am abased, I am abased for God’s glory.
If I am weak, God is strong for me.
If I am breaking, He holds me together.
If I am fading, He shines forever.
I am made less, so that He can be more.
I am God’s slave:
He is all I live for.

“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.”
– 1 Peter 2:15, 16

“Our comfort and happiness depend on what we are to Christ, not what we are in the world. No man should think to make his faith or religion, an argument to break through any natural or civil obligations. He should quietly and contentedly abide in the condition in which he is placed by Divine Providence.”
– Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (on 1 Corinthians 7:17-24)

Does this mean I am of little importance? That I ought to have little self-esteem? Of course not! I’ve been adopted into the family of Christ. I am a daughter of the King of Glory. I am held by the God of the universe.

Therefore, I’ll end with my favorite verse–
“So we may boldly say:
‘The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?'”
– Hebrews 13:6 NKJV

Seeking and Finding Peace

Last night’s WOL devotion on Jeremiah 29:1-14 was just what I needed to close out an active and busy weekend full of ups, downs, sadness, laughter, deaths, renewal, singing, tears, and prayers. I don’t know how I came through it all…God must have carried me. He has carried me through to the beginning of my twenty-fifth year!

He will always carry me.

Even in captivity, when their nation was torn apart, Jeremiah wrote to the captives that God was still thinking of them; God was still listening. Maybe they thought they had been carried too far away from the temple and their beloved Jerusalem, too far for them to find their God, and maybe too far for God to reach them, but Jeremiah tells them that God said, “I will be found by you…and I will bring you back from your captivity” (Jeremiah 29:14). What a promise!

This same God of Israel is still in control today, and He knows where we are, and His plans and thoughts for us are “of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). The One True God will let us seek Him and find Him, and He will reach us where we are and bring us back from our captivity.

God gives His people other amazing promises and comfort and truth in this passage, but one that stuck out to me last night was verse 7:

“And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”

As captives, as victims, as slaves, as defenseless, as those in a land that was not their home, a land of pagans, a land of treachery, a land where their very lives were at stake, God tells them to “seek peace.” And not peace for themselves, but peace “for the city,” the nation holding them captive, the unclean, unrighteous Babylonians, their abusers, their tormentors! They did not want to stay in that city. They probably despised that city. It was not their own city. “Pray to the Lord for it.”

I don’t know about you, but I think it’d be much easier to curse and rebel against my captors than to seek peace and pray for them. However, why should Israel and Judah listen to God? What was God’s promise? “For in its peace you will have peace.”

Sometimes when life situations and other people in my life seem to carry me far away from peace. When I feel like I’m a captive, chained in the darkness and exiled. When I think there is no hope. I can’t feel God’s reach… At those times, I must remember that God sees me and wants to bring me out of captivity and into peace. I need to actively hope and trust in Him. I can’t just sit around waiting to go back home, wishing things will get easier. I need to do what God has called me to do right now where I am. I need to seek the peace of the city where He has caused me to be carried. I need to pray for my captors.

“The same God who was with you then is with you now.
The same God who led you in will lead you out.
So take all the fear and doubt,
Go on and lay them down.
…The same God is with you now.”
– Newsong, “The Same God”

More Than I Need

Recently, I’ve been forced not only to defend what I believe, but to defend why I believe it. I have made a choice to believe in the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ, as my personal Savior. This was not to have an “excuse,” but because I was “without excuse.” This was not to live in sin, but because I was “dead” in my sins. This was not to satisfy selfishness, but to “deny myself” and be reconciled to God. Here is my response to anyone who questions my choice:

Maybe real freedom is being who we were made to be;
Not being whatever we do or say we want to be…

Only the One who made me, saved me, holds the purpose of why I’m me,
Loves me for me, and knows all I can be.

I accept myself for who I am as God created me;
Not for who I think I am or who I try to be.
Religion and legalism are not mercy,
In fact, they are the opposite,
Rules won’t save anybody or anything;
They show us where we miss the mark
And our inability
To be free and holy.

But maybe
God loves us more and
Saw the debt we couldn’t meet
That’s why He paid the penalty.
His perfect love has no rules,
no fear, no insecurity.

I’ve made a choice to believe
God really did create me
And think of me, and
He didn’t need to love me,
Or make His Son a curse for me.
Still, He gave me everything
When I was just His enemy.
Romans eight one through three.
They call that “mercy.”

So don’t tell me I’m needy
And my crutch is what God does for me:
I don’t love Him because I’m not free;
I love Him because He loved me.

“those kind” of people

The other night a Christian friend of mine shared with me that they were at a get-together with some people.  They said the host of the party was being rude and that a few of the guests were gay.  My initial thought was, “Ew. Why are you there?” and the responses I gave my frustrated friend weren’t much better.

“If I was in that situation with those kind of people, I’d run away,” I thought.

After that, I was reading about Jeremiah and our assignment as Christians to go into all the world making disciples (Matthew 28:18) and I read God’s words to Jeremiah to not be dismayed, and that He would make him a “fortified city” and an “iron pillar” when he faced the sinful people that God was going to judge (Jeremiah 1:17-19).

I reflected on my life.  I thought about my friend.  I thought about my disgusted response upon learning what kind of people my friend had been with—sinners.  I realized I hadn’t responded as a follower of Christ ought to respond.

Did I think I was better than other sinners?  What about loving the sinners and saving the lost?  Isn’t that what Jesus, my example–my Savior–did for me?

I immediately regretted not responding more positively, more compassionately, and more godly to my friend’s situation.  Instead of being dismayed, I could have praised God for this special opportunity my friend had to show God’s love to others.  Instead of questioning, I could have encouraged my friend that we can trust God to protect us and make us steadfast and strong when we go into ALL the world — even the scary places, the uncomfortable places, places that make us vulnerable, and places with “those kind” of people.

Dear Jesus,
Make me loving.  Help me to love even those who won’t love me back.  Help me to do good even to those who might not do good to me.  Help me to give, expecting nothing in return.   Make me a reflection of God, the Most High, Who “is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35, 36).  Forgive me for hating, for condemning, for doubting, and for being dismayed and afraid.  Make me merciful and steadfast.
                            Amen