Devotional Word for Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Peace of Mind! In the days in which we are living, this quality can be very elusive to many of us. We do try different ways to obtain it. We may set up a new exercise regimen or re-adjust our schedules for down-time. We might try mediation to clear out distractions from our minds. We could select soothing music to listen to, or read a therapeutic book, or watch an instructive video to induce quietness. We may even take vitamin and other supplements or adopt special diets, all to achieve a sense of tranquility in life.
However, though these measures may deliver a temporary health benefit or a placebo effect on our lives, real, lasting peace is unattainable. For the demands, pressures, and uncertainty of life quickly returns to dissolve all of these approaches for peace, and we find ourselves worried, confused, and insecure.
We know this is the case. Yet, we continue to turn to these kinds of ineffective measures hoping that the next time we will have a different outcome, but alas the same results happen, peace fades away and fearful anxiety abounds.
Is there an answer? Can we find the path to real, lasting, peace in life? The Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples of a peace that is not of this world, and that this world can never give us, in John 14:27-31, where Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. … I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you may believe. … that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.”
The world can only give a counterfeit kind of peace, that is no more than a temporary sham. If we want real, lasting, peace, we must recognize that true peace comes from God, by His grace through His gift of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, to be fully reconciled at peace with God, and by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit with the Word of God. When we have peace with God, we are at peace, and we have God’s peace while living in this world.
That is why Proverbs 6:20-23 applies directly to believers. The Parent – child relationship is undeniable in this passage, as we are instructed in V20 to “observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother”.
We are told in V21 to “bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck.” Some would argue, and rightfully so, that this is telling children to obey their parents in the Lord, as we read in Ephesians 6:1, and that would be true. However, from where do godly parents acquire the commandment and teaching they impart to their child?
The answer is the Lord, it is from His holy Word, through the illuminating and guiding work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. RIGHT!? God is not only in this equation of parental instruction to children, God is central, God is at the heart of all godly parental teaching and commandment to children.
Therefore, as children of God, when we bind the commandment of God to our hearts and tie the teaching of God around our necks a wonderful thing happens; for in V22, we learn how God desires us to live, we will be safe while asleep, and we will be guided as we wake up each new day; which amounts to being at peace with God, peace with in ourselves, and at peace from the start to the end of every new day. There will be true, lasting peace in all phases of life.
This is to be a constant reality for believers, for we are told in V23 that, “The commandment is a lamp, and teaching is light; and reproof for discipline are the way of life.” And the Lord Jesus taught us that as we obey His commandments, we prove our love for Him and we grow in love with Him. John 14:12-15, 21, 23; 1 John 5:3So how about us? Do we have peace of mind? Whether we do or we don’t, we need to know that true, lasting peace comes only from God, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by obeying His Word every day as God gives us grace and power, as we yield to the indwelling Holy Spirit. May we all experience the Lord’s peace today as we faithfully walk with Him! Amen!