06/14/2023
Today let's ask ourselves a couple of very important questions... Do we have the serenity in our lives that Jesus had in His? Is our life spent settled into constant comfort and peace, and if not... why isn't it? Perhaps we are not truly abiding in Christ. These thoughts were raised in me today as I read my morning devotional written by Oswald Chambers.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
John 15:4 KJV
Oswald Chambers prompted me to think about what Jesus' life was like and made me realize how differently the world led me to approach my own. I became aware that I was often missing one of the greatest gifts of God... to be at constant peace in Him. Chambers wrote these words:
"With Our Lord the inner abiding was unsullied; He was at home with God wherever His body was placed. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek towards His Father's dispensations for Him. Think of the amazing leisure of Our Lord's life. We keep God at excitement point, there is none of the serenity of the life hid with Christ in God about us." - Oswald Chambers
Certainly I experience times of great tranquility and peace in God, but there are so many times when I take the reins of my life back into my hands and run it like a stallion until a lather forms on its neck. When I take the control of my life back from Him, it seems that my natural inclination is to froth and foam like a stormy sea, and the calm of Jesus is gone.
Why is this so? Why do I fret over the spiritual challenges that I face? Why do the things that God calls me to do become like mountains before me that I must conquer? At what point does the fear of failure in His calling slip back into me? It happens the moment I doubt, it happens the instant I step away from the threshold of Jesus and no longer am abiding in Him. We are told to abide in Him just as He abides in God... in this we will find the peace of God.
Even before Jesus was born it was prophesied that He would be so founded in the Father and that He would be known as the Prince of Peace. Isaiah wrote of Him in this way:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6 KJV
Jesus had peace and tranquility exuding from Him because He had absolute faith that God would provide, and in the love of His Heavenly Father. He never doubted in God's hand remaining upon Him. This is what we should feel as well. Our lives should be settled not only into His arms, but deep into the calm that comes from an unwavering trust in God’s provision.
When children live in a settled and godly home, they trust in their earthly parents. They know that they will be provided for. The means of their provision never concerns them because it is being handled by their parents and God. In this way they are abiding peacefully in their parent's home. The peace this brings is expressed by such phrases as "the joy of childhood." They nestle into their beds at night, and play with friends by day; their tables have food upon them, and their greatest concern is in perhaps having to eat something they don't like even though it is good for them. This tranquility is an image of what we should be experiencing in our faith when we abide in Christ. Jesus tells us as much. Let's read what He said to His disciples...
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27 KJV
Wonderful reassurance that we receive from a deep abiding in Him, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." This is a peace that comes from absolute faith and confidence in God. This was why Jesus lived in tranquility, or as Chambers expressed it, “leisure”, and it is also why, when we are in Christ, He gives us that same life with the Father.
Life isn't about wealth and money. I was speaking with a godly man of humble means at church one Sunday morning and he was telling me about how his family lived from hand to mouth, but he said that despite his family’s meager means and a long running physical ailment that he personally had, there was always a sense of calm, and happiness, in their home. All these years later I was able to see this in him as he spoke to me. He told me that although his family never had a lot, they always had enough, and that His grown kids had told him how they felt the same way about their childhood in the household that he provided them. Then in a voice of assurance he said "God always provides, and He is always good."
I recall thinking as he spoke to me... Do we fret in our lives because God’s provision isn't enough for us... do we lack peace because we long for much more than “enough”?
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for you provision. I thank you for allowing me to abide in Jesus. Give me the peace and tranquility of a life founded in you, and let my trust in your goodness remove all doubt and uncertainty regarding my future. Holy Father, your Son Jesus trusted in you without fault and I long to have that same relationship. Let me abide in your Son, and then, as He abides in you, so I will abide in you also. Dear Lord keep me, and when my hands reach for the reins of my life, remind me that you have them and that I should take comfort in that. Take away the longing for excess and give me satisfaction in those simple things I need each day. When you do provide me with more than I need, I praise you for that wealth, and know it is only by your hand. Help me Father to see how you would have me manage this bounty and don't let it become a distraction to our closeness, but rather, let it become grease for the wheels of your will in me.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
Rich Forbes