"And
the peace of God, which passes all understanding,
will guard and keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7
Doesn’t it seem strange to talk
about “peace” in this place where tornadoes destroy and babies die? What is
this peace that we have in Christ? Does the peace of God somehow lift us above
the fear and grief that is part of the human condition?
Christians suffer, in body and in
spirit in this place.
We are not given the peace of the Stoic. We are not told smile when all is well, and smile when the cancer is terminal. We are not told to close our hearts to that which could disturb our peace. We do not experience a mystical inner collection with God that allows us to weather the storms of this life like immovable statues. No, we flip and fly with the winds, much like the rest of the world.
In our experience, we who have peace
with Christ often do not feel very peaceful at all, not in this place.
Christians suffer, and yet there is
peace in Christ.
Those who are not in Christ are like
a kite unfettered; free-wheeling through the sky; vulnerable to the winds and
the elements. The crash is inevitable. The flight is terrifying.
We who have Christ are like the kite
held by the strong father.
We have peace with God, and yet we live in this fallen world for a little while longer.
We are still assaulted by the winds.
The rain falls, and some of the
turns make our stomachs lurch.
We may even feel as if we are careening out of
control, and we brace for impact.
But even in the worst of storms, we are
tethered to a Rock.
We are held fast by Him who loves us.
As we flip and fly in this life, we know that nothing that assaults us can
force us out of his hands.
He will hold us fast.
And one day He will reel us in, to
Himself.
He will bring us to our home of forever peace, in perfect safety.
Until
then, even as we flip and fly, His grip is our peace.
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His grip is our peace.
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