(I do have to say, I wrote all this before anything had transpired in Washington D.C. It’s still appropriate for the day though! Hmmm, not that there was much good news on Wednesday though.... )
Had a bit of conviction happen as I read this (see below) passage today! When morning arrives and I wake up only to remember the uncertainty, heartache, anger and fear consuming the world I feel the weight of it pressing in on my soul. I do see the good news, but I also see all the bad news, uncertain news, and the news I just don’t even know how to process. I am tired of walking a tight rope of emotions. I’m weary. There is a desperate WANT in my heart for things to just “be right.”
This is a good desire. But the problem is that I look to the wrong things to fill me with a confident expectation of eventual peace. Peace comes from the hand of my God. He doesn’t offer it in the form of “everyone will agree with you, you’ll see!” No, he says, “Why do you keep looking for security and peace in things which can’t deliver it? This world is broken. Don’t expect security after believing it’s ideas. True peace comes from accepting the grace that I offer, first in salvation so that we can have a relationship and then ever ongoing in a daily stream of sufficiency. Your resiliency comes from knowing and loving me. Follow me. I will give you wisdom and lead you through the chaos.”
Our hearts were designed to follow something. It’s why we are always looking. St Augustine wrote, as a once restless seeker a millennia ago, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” That’s still true today.
My prayer is that my heart would both find its confidence in God and then let that peace be the fuel which guides my mind when I think, my mouth when I speak and hands as they act. I need to stop scrolling up on my phone, looking for hope or distraction there. True, I’m not called to avoid living in this world, but I am called to avoid living as if this world will rescue me.
The book of 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul to a group of Christians who were living under great fear for their future. They believed that the end of the world was close and their confidence was shaken. They didn’t know how to live, in light of that fear. Paul’s words to them echo from their small home church halls to our hearts today. Don’t live in anxiety, anger or despair. Instead, rest in God’s grace. Trust him and then seek to do good to those around you.
Love you friends! Let’s walk this road together.
Comments