“Where can peace be found? All I want is peace!” No doubt, this is the cry of many hearts in this day and age. With all the clamor of the day’s troubles and unrest amidst mass shootings, weather disasters, food recalls, job layoffs, pestilences, scandals, etc., peace is what we all want.
Achieving a level of peace where there is no worry for what each day may bring is available to those of us willing to humble ourselves to accept the solution. He is described in the Bible as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). His peace is not like the peace we find in this world. His is a supernatural peace that far surpasses what we can manufacture.
God’s peace is one fruit of the Holy Spirit freely given to men to enjoy. We know peace on earth to be freedom from disturbance or calmness. However, God’s supernatural peace provides this calm even in the presence of disturbance or trouble.
We who accept and love the Son of God, Jesus Christ, have peace with the Father, God. This peace was declared in Luke 2:14, “… on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Then when Jesus left the earth for heaven, He stated, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Therefore, we can put our confidence in the fact that, per Philippians 4:6-7, if we determine not to be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God; the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.
We should ask ourselves if we truly have the peace we desire in our lives. If not, we should simply ask the Lord for it. We should study our bibles to remind ourselves of His promises regarding peace as well as be aware of those things that rob us of it. We should be watchful as our enemy loves to lie, manipulate, and cause stress at every turn of our stories’ pages.
So we must seek and allow the Lord’s authorship of our stories, freely relinquishing all to His care, trusting Him to fulfill His promise of peace to us. His ways most certainly won’t fully be our ways, as His kingdom is not of this world. However, we can even ask for help with this, that we would trust His ways for us are just and secure though we may not always understand them.
I’m thankful for the Lord’s grace in providing us with His teachings on wisdom and the blessings and consequences of accepting or rejecting them. We see in the book of Proverbs many references to wisdom and its effect on those who evade, or walk, in it.
One reference stands out to me: “For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” (Proverbs 1:32-33) I remind myself that I actually believe these verses of scripture, or I don’t.
I’m imagining those times when a parent may tell their little one not to do something. Yet at their child’s own desire, they proceed to do the very opposite only to find the results to be painful. Most parents, of course, then feel some measure of sadness but are quick to remind their children “I told you so.”
When Proverbs 1:32-33 talks about waywardness in Hebrew, it is defined as away, as in going away or backsliding. Complacency is described as tranquility, all is good (when it really isn’t), no concern for harm, and carelessness.
Sometimes, offense, grief, the lust of our eyes, or the pride of life may cause us to act out in unhealthy ways to appease our own selfish cravings. Not stoking the fires of our passions toward the Lord’s will for us can cause us to lean more toward carnality and worldly desires.
We must seek the Lord’s help in prayer, and welcome encouragement from the Body of Christ, a huge help for us.
Moreover, safety is defined as security, peace, quiet, comfort, and confidence, while harm is defined as damage, injury, and loss. Most of us would welcome the former over the latter results. So, this passage provides a clear explanation of the outcome of embracing or ignoring wisdom.
At certain points in our lives, we all experience wisdom’s call in navigating various circumstances. Nevertheless, sometimes we refuse to listen and disregard the advice given. The Bible tells us the results can be disaster, calamity, distress, and just plain trouble. This is described scripturally as hating knowledge and choosing not to fear the Lord. Ignoring the Lord’s advice, which is His help, we incur the fruit of our own wrong choices.
As the Lord makes His teachings available to us, and we decide to disregard His instructions, we are admonished to pay attention, and repent, and He will pour out His thoughts to us (Proverbs 1:23).
Chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Proverbs provide the benefits and well-being of receiving and living in God’s wisdom: success, protection, understanding, health, peace, prosperity, and long life.
It is to our great advantage to keep wisdom, understanding, sound judgment, and discretion before us. These things are important because they are life for us. When we are wise, we inherit honor, but fools get only shame.
More reading: Psalm 25:12; Psalm 112:1-8; Proverbs 1:20-31
Though I am grateful for all of the ways the Lord continues to provide financial abundance to His people, I’m reminded to embrace His perspective on the value of money. Almighty God who has all power and authority understands well what’s most important as relates to resources for His children. He has promised throughout the Bible to take good care of His own and encourages us not to worry about things such as what we’ll eat or wear.
Knowing who God is as much as we are able, should help us to feel a great measure of confidence in His care for us, as His children. He knows our propensity towards greed and misunderstanding of what is most important in our lives. As such, He tells us in Matthew 6:19-24 not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where those things can’t reach them.
He also tells us that where our treasure is, our heart will be also. So one thing we can gather from this is our focus will be on where we’ve placed our treasure. Is it on heaven or earth?
The Lord goes on in this passage to remind us of the importance of our eyes as they are the lamp to our bodies and their health will determine the health of our body. How and what are we seeing: darkness or light? Are we discerning who we are actually valuing most: money or God? I have to ask myself this question often. We’re reminded we can’t serve both (which I’ve sometimes been inclined to wonder why not?) God answers we will be devoted to one over the other. If we have two masters, one will get more attention than the other. One will be loved more than the other. Same with God and money.
I asked God what it actually means to serve money, and He immediately led me to Luke 12:21: “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” This was the result of the parable of the rich fool in Luke 21, who had such an abundant harvest thought, that he had no place to store his crops. So, after reaching a great increase, he’d tear down barns he had, build larger ones, then after years of great increase relax, eat, drink, and be merry–yet only to die unexpectedly.
So, it is to our advantage to remember that “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.” It may not be held as the most popular wisdom of today, but Jesus warned us in Luke 12:15, to “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Thankfully, God has also provided wisdom in his word about saving money and how one should give:
“Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” (Proverbs 13:11)
“Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up…” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)
“For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.” (2 Corinthians 8:12-13)
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)
Though people within and outside the Body of Christ have debated long, with scriptures, over the paying of tithes today, we see that God has a great love for His church and we should be willing to support it.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10)
““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”(Mark 12:41-44)
Another observation I’ve made in scripture regarding giving is God’s strong passion for poor people:
“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. (Proverbs 14:31)
The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. (Proverbs 22:9)
Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. (Proverbs 28:27)
In any event, God has given us many teachings on money and perhaps one of my favorite verses on it is, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) This means we’re set and don’t really have a care in the world. The Creator of heaven and earth is with us. We simply have to believe it!
Now I must mention that in this day and age, as was in the past, there are many charlatans, false prophets, and wolves in sheep’s clothing who use methods of intimidation, manipulation, and deception to steal from God’s people. However, again, remembering who is with us, listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice, and availing ourselves of God’s wisdom and knowledge through prayer and Bible study, will keep us in the way of truth.
In this, I’m also reminded of Matthew 23:1-3: “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” Reading this, it may be that we have some questionable leaders sitting in Moses’ seat in our churches. However, even when giving to God via those who may be hypocrites, as we receive the authentic word of God’s Bible from them, He will reward our actions of obedience.
In our giving we can rest assured that according to 2 Corinthians 9:10-11, “…he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
Our aim is a simple instruction in Luke 6:38: “Give and it will be given unto you pressed down shaken together and running over will men give unto your bosom.”
To all of this, my reply would be, Lord, “turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.” (Psalm 119:36)
On occasion, I’ll sit and ask myself if I really understand what Jesus has provided for me and what He intends for my life. I often get the sense that there is so much more in store for me and the family of God than we can ever imagine. The joy I get from meditating on the lavish unselfishness of His provision is indescribable.
Unfortunately, per John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Yet graciously, Jesus came “that we might have life and have it to the full.” This wonderful verse gives us greater insight into God’s generous desire for our existence. He came not only that we’d have life, but to have it wholly.
This reminds me that his commands aren’t given to steal our joy, kill our happiness, or destroy our peace. That’s the thief’s work, so we shouldn’t assign it to our Lord and Savior. Jesus has brought great fulfillment to our lives as only He can, and develops us into the family He desires.
Now of course, according to Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death” and sometimes, our unwise and sinful choices can open doors for our adversary to wreak havoc in our lives. However, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Bible tells us that, in Jesus, was life, “and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4). Further, Jesus tells us “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. …” (John 11:25-26).
Therefore, Jesus is the one to whom we offer our gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise for all the great things He has done and continues to do for us.
We have truly been blessed with bountiful life and should not forget all of the Lord’s benefits written in Psalm 103:3-5: “Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.”
How comforting to know that “He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” We can rest in knowing that “… as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him… .” (Psalm 103:10-11)
Now as far as our enemy is concerned, he has been handled as well. Jesus told the disciples in Luke 10:18-19 that He “saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning” and that Jesus had given them “authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy” and that nothing would harm them. Dedicated followers of Jesus are his disciples today.
Even when we experience the trials of living in a sinful world, 2 Peter 2:9 assures us that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.” Also, we know from James 1:2-3, that we can face trials with joy as we know that “the testing of our faith produces perseverance.” Not to mention, the Bible’s Old Testament tells us: “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” (Proverbs 24:16) Nevertheless, it’s okay to ask for help getting back up.
So with all glory being given to Jesus, 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 comes to mind: “So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” Now if that isn’t abundant life, I don’t know what is!
Ms. Rita's Minute 