Ephesians 2:1-10 Goodness

 

Today is Pentecost, the day that Jesus sent his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the gift of Jesus that keeps reminding us of who Jesus is, his life and teaching, and the hope that we have in belonging to Jesus. This all flows out of the kindness, the goodness of God. The word for goodness, agathos in Greek, includes the idea of generosity and doing what’s right. All these different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are all interconnected and intertwined with each other.

Last week we saw kindness as being the opposite of meanness, goodness goes in a slightly different direction. Goodness is a deliberate choice of right over wrong and the constant fight against all moral evil while choosing and following all that is morally good. Goodness is an active choosing of Jesus’ way over our way or Satan’s way. This is why goodness is connected so closely to doing, it’s actively living out Jesus’ way in our lives as Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” It’s all about pointing people to God through how we live, through the things we do. As Paul reminds us, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We do good works, not save ourselves, but out of gratitude to God who is “making us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Jesus Christ, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness, or goodness, to us in Christ Jesus.” Paul doesn’t want us to think for even a second that anything we do saves us from our sin. It’s Jesus all the way. As Richard Carlson writes, “Our works have not saved us, but they are part of the goal God had in mind in saving us. Hence good works are not simply the by-products of our conversion but were pre-planned and pre-prepared by God.”

These good works show the change that the Holy Spirit makes in us through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. When God created humanity in his image, we were created good and very good. Sin changed that, this is why God sent Jesus and the Holy Spirit, to reverse the effects of sin in us and begin the process of making us good and very good once again. This is what we call sanctification. This is a life long process, which is why we’re reflecting on growing the fruit of the Spirit in us, no matter how old we are, because we all have growing to do.

Pete Armstrong talks about Barnabas, the only one willing to take a chance on the angry murderous Saul after Saul became a follower of Jesus, “We have all been around exciting people who are passionate about the wrong things. What did Barnabas encourage them towards? “He encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (Acts 11:23c). Perhaps this was his way of saying: Remember this day always. Remain true even when temptation comes. Remain true when the culture goes against you. Remain true when you are threatened with your life (a reality for the early church and for many believers around the world today). Barnabas had a beautiful way of encouraging them toward the truth of the Lord, who loves us with all His heart.” Phillip Yancy marvels at the love and grace of God, “God wants something more intimate than the closest relationship on earth, the lifetime bond between a man and a woman. What God wants is not a good performance, but my heart. I do “Good works” for my wife not in order to earn credit but to express my love for her. Likewise, God wants me to serve ‘In the way of the Spirit”: not out of compulsion but of desire.” Good works flow out of our love for God, but also out of our newfound love for our neighbours.

What are these good works that God has prepared for us to do? Is everything nice we do a good work? We can go to the GEMS for some insight from the Old Testament, Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Baking cookies for your neighbour, mowing their lawn, or shoveling their driveway after a snowstorm are good things. But maybe we need to go deeper into what the good works God has prepared for us to do are. Are there things in our community that are broken, systems that hurt rather than help? Are there gaps in our community that those who are poor, oppressed, in need of help and compassion fall through unseen and uncared for? The Bible has always been concerned for the entire community, not simply the wealthy and comfortable. God’s goodness is about righteousness and justice, about standing up against moral evil and actively engaging in building God’s shalom and kingdom in our community. Imagine investing your life in doing God’s good works with him!

We have some amazing people and organizations doing good works in our community right now: YU Turn and Stepping Stones, the Broomtree Foundation, the foodbank, along with government organizations such as FCSS and Neighbourlink. There are great needs in our community because of the economic climate in our province and COVID. Family breakdowns and abuse are up, drug and alcohol abuse are up, many more people are struggling with mental health. There are no shelters in Lacombe for those who are homeless, there is no emergency woman’s shelter in Lacombe, or a parent in crisis support group. Bethel is a church that loves doing, it is a church filled with loving servants, but perhaps we need to be more deliberate in how we serve, in the good works we’re engaged in.

Jesus challenges us when it comes to doing good in Luke 6:31–35, “Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

Doing good to people we don’t know, for those who we don’t care for, even those who have hurt us is the challenge of Jesus. It’s easy to take care of each other. To discover God’s good works for us takes listening to our community, watching what is or isn’t happening around us, getting to know the people of our community by serving in places like the Broomtree, YU Turn, FCSS, and other organizations in Lacombe that are working to make our city a better place to live. It takes spending time getting to know our neighbours, the clerks in the grocery stores, the other parents at the swimming pool or lake, talking to those serving in our local government about the needs they see and how they see we could bring more shalom, justice, and health into our community. These are the kinds of good works that cause others to wonder about the God we follow, this is how we can be part of how God changes lives and communities.

This kind of effort as a church and as individuals reveals how God’s goodness is shaping us, how the goodness of the fruit of the Spirit is growing in us and using us to lead others to Jesus. Us doing good works reveals God’s goodness. Paul writes to Titus, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Nadia Bolz-Weber writes, “We are gifted by God for good works. We are subjects of not only God's grace, love and mercy, but also of God's gifts. Sometimes we even say yes to God's yes, which is when the gospel is unleashed in our lives and challenges our self-reliance. This is when things get really exciting.” It’s good to live an exciting life partnering with God to transform lives and our city through God’s goodness and the good works he’s prepared for us to do.

 

 

Romans 11:11-24 Kindness

 

In Romans 9-11, we see Paul’s heart for the Jews. He’s happy for Gentiles who are coming to Jesus and the faith communities that are growing like crazy, but Paul’s not seeing his many of own people respond to Jesus as their Messiah. Paul’s wondering if God’s plan is to use the Gentiles to bring the Jews to Jesus by stirring up jealousy in the Jews. At the same time, Paul’s warning the Gentiles to not get too smug about being grafted into Jesus. It’s only by God’s kindness that they’ve been grafted into Jesus, not because they’re so special in themselves. Paul encourages the Gentiles to instead pray that God will extend his kindness to the Jewish people too.

When you read through Scripture, kindness is a key attribute of the character of God. The Hebrew word hesed is often translated as kindness, though it’s much more, it’s about long-lasting loyalty and commitment. The Greek word christotes is translated as kindness. Our society feels like it’s becoming meaner and harsher. Social media can be an ugly place and kindness can be hard to find. The saddest part is that there are Christians on social media that are as mean and unkind and sarcastic as non-Christians. Instead of changing the culture on social media, too many Christians have become part of the social media culture.

It’s going to take Christians who are serious about Jesus to be part of the change on social media. I am challenging everyone who’s on social media, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok or any of the other platforms, to commit to only being an encouraging presence of kindness who builds others up. This includes politics. If you cannot say something nice about those in government or anyone else, offer up a prayer for them instead. Be a presence of kindness rather than hate and meanness. Kindness is about desiring what is best for the other person, it’s about showing tender concern, it’s about who you are as a person, part of your character. Kindness is sacrificial, focusing on being a blessing. Ephesians 4:31–32, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

While many non-Christians would like to know Christians and learn about what we believe, many non-Christians also see Christians mostly act negatively. John Atkinson writes, “What we do and say affects the non-Christians around us far more than it does the Christians. Pastor Lee Strobel said one of the most profound things I have ever heard. I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact quote, "for those of us who call ourselves Christians, we need to know that the hypocrisy meter is scanning our lives." In other words, those who have chosen not to believe are looking for us to fail so they can justify their non-belief.”

Kindness is having a generous spirit, a desire to say or do something that makes a person feel valued, cared for, and cherished. That’s what we saw in the video. In Romans 11, Paul tells us that the kindness of God is the foundation of our salvation. Scott Hoezee writes, “Paul sees kindness as a fierce strength of God. Kindness is the spring from which saving grace flows into our hearts.  Kindness is a disposition of God—that as a Fruit of the Spirit we are to imitate—that makes him prone to reach out to lost sinners such as we all otherwise would be.  Yes, Paul also writes here, there can be a severity to God, too, and at the moment, Paul sees the Jews on the receiving end of that severity.  But there is little doubting which of the two Paul sees as being the core driving force for God: it’s kindness.  Kindness has already won the day and maybe, maybe, maybe even for Paul’s Jewish sisters and brothers it will finally win the day for them too.  But for the rest of us: don’t forget that kindness has saved you.  Let that set the tone for the rest of your life.”

Kindness is strength. It builds up and encourages those whom others ignore or mock. When we treat someone who has been cruel to us with kindness, we’re going way past being nice. Jesus tells the story of a Jewish man who is mugged and his own people, a priest and a Levite won’t stop to help him, but a Samaritan who is despised by the Jews stops, helps, and even uses his own money to help the man recover from the mugging. That’s kindness at work, that’s being like Jesus. Loving the unlovable reveals a deep and powerful kindness. Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Kindness is central to who we are as followers of Jesus; rooted in God’s kindness to us.

Paul uses the image of branches grafted into the tree or vine to show God’s kindness to us. It’s the same image Jesus uses in John 15, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful… This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Paul reminds the Gentile believers that they’ve been grafted into the church, into Jesus; not because they’re special, but because of Jesus’ kindness. Paul reminds Titus, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

If we’re getting our life from Jesus, drinking from the life we receive from being grafted into Jesus, then we should be looking more and more like Jesus, and one of the ways is kindness, growing more kind as we grow in faith and life. Kindness needs to be practiced if we’re going to grow in kindness. It doesn’t just happen. Kindness is practiced and lived out in relationship with each other and with those in our community. Tom Long says, “kindness is what allows us to see every person as an image-bearer of God…” I love this, kindness is rooted in how you see other people, recognizing them as worthy of kindness because they’re created in the image of God and loved by God.

To grow in kindness, turn to Jesus’ life. Learn from him what kindness looks like. Allow the Spirit to soften your hearts and experience Jesus’ kindness to you. Kindness is intertwined with the love, joy, peace, and patience we’ve already reflected on. When you talk with or about someone you deeply disagree with, how does it go? How do you describe them, do you truly care about them, want what is best for them; do you encourage and build them up, do you have compassion for them?

Sunday evenings we’re listening to the Report on Healthy Sexuality, reflecting on issues such as pornography, gender, the LGBTQ, and marriage. These are issues where there’s deep disagreement between the church and our society, and within the church. How we relate to each other is a witness to our faith and Christian character. Genuinely loving and listening in order to understand those who disagree with us on these and other moral and ethical issues lets them know that we really care about them, that we desire what’s best for them, and that we desire to be faithful to God. While we may disagree, this doesn’t mean we have to see them as enemies.

Wesley Baines writes on Beliefnet.com about “Oskar Schindler’s choice to be kind to 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. An ethnic German and a Catholic, Schindler bought a Jewish-owned enamelware factory called Rekord Ltd., changing the name to Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik Oskar Schindler in 1939. Schindler employed Jewish workers from the nearby Krakow ghetto—a Jewish ghetto created by the Nazis, from which they exploited Jews for forced labor. But while these Jews were basically slaves in Schindler’s enamelware factory, he went to great lengths to ensure they were protected.

Schindler repeatedly bribed SS officers to not deport his workers to extermination camps, adding an armaments manufacturing division to his factory so that he could claim his Jewish workers essential to the war effort. When Krakow was liquidated, and many of its Jewish inhabitants sent to their deaths, Schindler let his workers stay safe within the walls of his factory overnight so that they would not be taken.

Later, Schindler convinced the SS to convert his factory into a branch of Plaszow concentration camp, and brought in Jews from other camps as well, protecting them from the brutality of the Nazis at great personal risk, even going so far as to falsify armament production numbers so as to continue safeguarding his Jewish workers, only shutting down operations the day that the Soviets liberated the local concentration camps. Schindler’s act of kindness saved the lives of over a thousand people.”

Dr. George Cladis writes, “we’re called to be an agent of God’s kindness in the world, exhibiting the richness of God’s grace and presence to those around us. Kindness in Scripture implies a sustained relationship. It isn’t that hard to practice our faith on Sunday mornings at church…but what about the rest of the week? Imagine if we took what we believe into our unique spheres of life, and spilled out the kindness of God there?” This week, go, invest yourself in living out Jesus’ kindness wherever he leads you.

 

James 5:7-12 Patience

 

When I think of patience, I think of the prayer, “Lord, please give me patience, and give it to me now!” In many ways, I relate to that prayer. Patience can be hard and some people struggle with a lack of it more than others. It seems rather ironic that this sermon is coming on the first Sunday back into lockdown! Patience is defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset, or annoyed without losing your temper or becoming irritated. Patience is keeping a spirit of calmness and peace in times of turmoil, upset and stress.

Patience seems to be getting harder and harder to practice. There are a lot of reasons for why patience seems harder now: we keep moving in and out of isolation as COVID is now in our own community and each time we’re a close contact we need to isolate ourselves from contact with others. We’re already practicing physical distancing and this is creating stress and loneliness affecting mental health. We’re living in closer quarters than normal, constantly being asked to be flexible, and there’s change on change in so many of our routines. This challenges our ability to be patient with others, ourselves, and even God. On this Sunday when we honour mothers, I honour how much patience so many of you have had to grow in this past year! Being a mother, teacher, counsellor, referee and more has called for much patience and grace this past year!

Patience is part of the Fruit of the Spirit, and maybe one of the hardest parts to grow in. This is where the church comes in. Melissa Slocum writes, “Our ancient Christian faith teaches us much about the path to holiness. It is usually countercultural, slow, includes some suffering or persecution, and requires persistence, patience, devotion to God through prayer, and devotion to God’s people through service. Like prayer, patience is a discipline that we learn, practice, and get better at over time.” Just like fruit on a tree doesn’t appear overnight and needs to be cultivated, pruned, and nourished, so too, patience is something that is grown, cultivated, and nourished as well. The only issue is that many people don’t bother because it’s hard. They use excuses such as, “This is the way I was born,” or “God made me this way,” or even, “Impatience is a positive thing because it gets right to the heart of the issue and we get stuff done.”

I love how James uses the farmer as an example of patience. Part of the reason is that they don’t have a choice, they have to practice patience otherwise they will drive themselves crazy. But it still doesn’t always come naturally. Growing up, I remember one farmer saying that growing patience was part of growing his faith because it was part of growing his trust in God, trusting that God is in control. That doesn’t mean he didn’t work hard at farming, but he recognized what was in his control and what wasn’t.

When James talks about patience, he does so with the knowledge that Jesus is coming back. We read this and wonder, because James is writing this about 2,000 years ago, but the idea is still relevant today, we don’t know when Jesus is returning, so we need to go about our work as mature Christians, this is why James warns us against grumbling against each other. Grumbling shows a lack of maturity and a lack of trust and faith in God. This hurt when I first read it; it shows me how much growing up I still have to do at times.

Rev. Frederick Buechner writes, “So to wait for Christ to come in his fullness is not just a passive thing, a pious, prayerful, churchly thing. On the contrary, to wait for Christ to come in his fullness is above all else to act in Christ's stead as fully as we know how. To wait for Christ is as best we can to be Christ to those who need us to be Christ to them most and to bring them the most we have of Christ's healing and hope because unless we bring it, it may never be brought at all.” Rev. Buechner reminds us that when we live with the expectation of Jesus’ return, we are more invested in being more like Christ to others, and I would add, more engaged in inviting others to join us in following Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  

Melissa Slocum gets to the heart of the importance of growing the fruit of patience in our lives, “Teens live in the in-between world where they are no longer children but not yet adults. They are constantly encouraged to be patient and told to wait until they are older. But are we as adults giving them good examples of how to be patient, or of what to do while they wait? Teaching patience requires wisdom, discipline and, yes, patience. While we wait patiently for answers to prayer or direction for our lives, we cannot simply be idle. As Christians we are called to engage with the world by serving the least, the last, and the lost; and we are commanded to maintain our individual spiritual disciplines of prayer, presence, gifts, service, and witness.”

Do our teens, children, and community see a people who are patient and gracious to one another, living out this part of the fruit of the Spirit with each other? What kind of a witness are we? Do they see us practicing patience in life, especially at this time when there are so many people in the news acting out in defiance against the various levels of government, do they see us treating each other respectfully even in our disagreements over many of these same issues, or do they see grumbling people? Listening to each other in order to understand the other person is a strong step in growing patience. Does our community see us concentrating on serving the least, the last, and the lost as we take our eyes off of our own wants and concentrate on who Jesus is calling us to be in making disciples for him? Being aware of what’s going on around you, helping someone else gets your focus off yourself and helps grow patience. Take time each day to write down 3 things you are thankful for; gratitude helps grow patience. Practice gratitude instead of grumbling.

James goes on to use the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of patience; James connects the ability to persevere in hard times to having learned how to be patient because they knew that Jesus was coming back. But it made me think, how were the prophets able to be patient and persevere through the persecution and even martyrdom? Heather Hughes says, “Patience requires hope because we need to know how a story ends in order to keep going through the painful parts.” This is where the prophets’ and our patience come from, we know the end of the story! Then I realized that their patience was rooted in hope, the hope of knowing that Jesus was coming back and that when he does, he’s going to set things right. Trust in Jesus helps grow patience, knowing the Jesus won against Satan and sin when he died and was raised up from the grave for our sins, and that we will all be raised up from the grave into a new life; a life where our struggles are over and we’re able to live into who we really are as Jesus’ followers, as God’s children.

Living into God’s patience and our hope in Jesus helps us to also grow grace into our hearts and souls. God himself practices patience, Peter reminds us 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.” God’s patience comes out of his love for us and wanting everyone to come to repentance, back into a good relationship with him again. Yet, as I think about my own struggle with impatience, I realise that the times I’m most impatient is when I feel disrespected. Each time we sin, we disrespect God, so when you think about God’s patience, thank him for his grace to you.

I love how the song goes, “Amazing grace, my chains are gone;” the chains of sin and impatience and grumbling begin to break because of Jesus; the chains of impatience and immaturity are broken and we grow in patience and grace with each other. This helps us to become more who we are called to be as followers of Jesus; Paul calls us in Ephesians 4 to, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Remember who we are, God’s children, followers of Jesus called to be like Jesus and make disciples who look like Jesus. We do this by loving each other, living with patience with others. Richard Mouw puts it this way, “God did not give up, either on human beings or on the larger creation that he loves. He set out to call to himself a redeemed people who would show the world how he originally intended human beings to conduct their lives. And finally, he sent Jesus to save individuals but also to reclaim the whole creation.” Patience is part of the Fruit of the Spirit that reveals the maturity of our faith and our love for God and others.

Psalm 34 Peace

 

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. Shalom is one of those words that is wonderfully deep with meaning, a word translated often as peace, but a peace that is filled with wholeness and health, especially in right relationships with each other. Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but is flourishing of who you are, for both yourself and the community. Peace is about a lack of anxiety and worry, and for followers of Jesus, this comes from trust in God and a healthy relationship with God marked by obedience, worship, and praise. When someone from a Jewish background greets you with "Shalom" they are offering you a blessing for health and wholeness that is centered in God.

A lot of things can take away our sense of peace: for some people, a spider takes away their sense of peace, for others it might be traffic or politics. Those in the presence of suffering for long periods of time can lose a sense of peace, stress is a peace killer, and today there’s FOMO: fear of missing out that prevents many from having peace. Anger poisons peace. Life can be hard for many reasons and can make it hard to experience peace.

Psalm 34 leads us to peace even though the actual word "peace" or "shalom" is only mentioned in verse 14 where we’re called to seek peace and pursue it. It’s about healthy relationships with God and others. Psalm 34 hi-lights how God’s people experience peace. In verse 4 we read, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” God knows how easily we become afraid, even when we don’t admit our fear to ourselves.

There’s a lot going on around us that can create fear, young people often find it hard to find decent paying jobs, many who have jobs are not always certain they’ve be able to keep them in this economic climate, education is becoming more expensive, and there’s the pandemic. There’s those who have health issues, relationship issues, emotional and mental health struggles and it can feel like there is fear around every corner. Fear prevents us from experiencing peace, so David calls us to seek the Lord and he will deliver us from all our fears.

In verse 9, we’re told to “Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.” It sounds a little ironic to be told to fear the Lord right after being told that the Lord delivers us from our fears, yet it’s good to fear the Lord. Think about who God is, creator of the universe, creator of life, King of kings, Lord of lords, more powerful than any other being in the universe, more powerful than Satan, our great enemy. We should be afraid of God, but it is a fear that is also shaped by awe and wonder, by trust and love. Because God is great, because of who he is we can have peace because everything is under his control; there’s nothing and no one more powerful than our God.

In verse 10, we are reminded that when “we seek the Lord, we lack no good thing.” God provides for his people. David trusts that when God’s people need his help, that God will be there for his people. In verses 15-22, David reminds us that God is actively listening to us, paying attention to us, and is close to us. Verse 19 says, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all,” and then in an echo to Jesus’ crucifixion, “he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.” We will face trouble, but we can experience peace in our hearts and souls, knowing that God sees and gives us what we need to make it through. In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us to “seek the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to us.” Jesus is talking about all our physical and spiritual needs.

Peace is about the state of your soul and spirit. You can be in conflict or trouble and still experience peace because you're centered on Jesus. Peace models grace, humility, forgiveness, and working hard at determining God's will in the situation. Peace isn’t something you wait for, God wants you engaged in life, but doing life his way and God says he will fill you with his peace. This is the sense of what Jesus is talking about in John 14, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Jesus is telling the disciples that he's giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit so they'll be equipped to continue his work when he leaves, but with the peace of knowing that they’re not alone and God is with them, protecting and guiding them.

Jesus offers us peace. This peace is the ability to experience calmness when things are crazy bad around you, it’s about experiencing hope and knowing we don’t have to worry because God is working out all things for our good, even if the things don’t feel good. It’s knowing that God is consistent, not changing his mind about who he created us to be, he’s the calm cove in a storm, the rock that never crumbles. Peace is a gift, and like any gift, we can accept it or reject it. David tells us in verse 14, to turn from evil and do good. You grow in maturity when you allow the Holy Spirit's guidance to shape your actions, guiding you not only in what you believe, but also in how you live your lives. Doing good things brings peace, something I’ve often experienced. It means you’ve taken your eyes off yourself and are thinking of others.

Many of those who cannot find peace find it difficult to trust God, forgive others because they feel God is not fair. People struggle with worry and fear because they want life to go their way instead of trusting God, others allow anger to simmer inside, while others are unable to forgive. When stuff like this sits inside your heart, it poisons your spirit and soul, making it hard to seek or experience peace or pursue because ultimately, you've decided that Jesus is not strong enough or loving enough.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace of Isaiah 9, willing to fill you with his peace, but at some point, you need to say, "God, I now give you my heart and soul and allow you complete control of not only my life, but of my heart, mind, and feelings. I trust you that you know best for me and that in doing this I will find your peace." Jesus offers you peace; peace with God, peace within your own soul, peace with others as Jesus' peace soaks deep into your heart, soul and mind to shape you more into his image. It’s hard to do this on your own, mentors, mature Christian friends who live out peace in their lives, your pastor, all are people to turn to and ask to invest in you and help you grow Jesus’ peace in your life. It won’t always be easy because it will likely call you to change how you see God and yourself.

This doesn't mean that every relationship will work out, or that you won’t struggle at times. It doesn't mean there will be no more tears or even anger, but it does mean that because of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, God's Spirit is with you reminding you that God loves you, forgives you, and who accepts you as you are, but loves you too much to allow you to stay just like you are. Our peace does not come without sacrifice. Our peace with God comes through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. To experience peace, become a living sacrifice to God, giving him your whole life and trusting that who he is calling you to be through Scripture. Submit yourself completely to Jesus. Peace flows out of the worship found in the opening verses of this psalm; we’re saved from our fears because we know God. Look for the beauty around you, let it help you experience God’s presence. Music, a creek tumbling down its bed, a mountain scene on a bright sunny day, children playing, a mother or father hugging their child, couples in love, a beautiful poem that stirs your soul all help connect us to God’s presence.

Grab your Bible and immerse yourself in the stories of God's relationship with humanity, join with others to praise God and hold nothing back, and develop a prayer life that’s more about listening to God and praising him than about your requests. Read and listen to God's acts of love and commitment, hear his promises to never abandon and leave, open your heart to the presence of the Holy Spirit, allow it to soak into your soul, and peace will begin to soak into your soul. You will discover joy in life and greater shalom in your relationship with Jesus and others.