Peace is the feeling we can never be without. It comes from trusting God. Do you let peace rule your heart?
Peace rules my heart.
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Colossians 3:15
Peace needs to rule our heart. Peace comes from trusting God. We need to trust God with our whole heart.
That’s a lot to unpack.
Peace is the person of Jesus
Let’s start with peace. It’s not the absence of war. Peace is the person of Jesus.
I was researching for this blog post and decided to look at the context of the verses I wanted to use to encourage you today. The verse on my heart said, “Seek peace and pursue it”. In the version we’re going to look at it reads “Search for peace and work to maintain it.”
I wanted to know what the Bible said about searching for peace and working to maintain it.
And guess what? It suddenly became very practical for us. Let’s read 1 Peter 3:7-12
1 Peter 3:7-12 New Living Translation (NLT)
In the same way, you husbands must give honour to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. For the Scriptures say,
“If you want to enjoy life
and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
and your lips from telling lies.
Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
against those who do evil.
Search for peace and work to maintain it. What’s the context?
Context of the verse
Peter is not talking about inner peace here. He’s talking about peace with our closest relationship.
There’s a good chance you’ve been spending a lot of time with someone you love.
Even if you’re living by yourself, we all should have people we care about that we’re spending more time than usual with. It could be on a phone call, it could be on video conference - we should be interacting with people on a whole other level.
And that level can sometimes get iterating.
This week Karen and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We weren’t celebrating it how four months ago we hoped to celebrate it, but we did celebrate it. You might have saw the video I put together. I spent a day going through all the pictures I had.
It was wonderful remembering.
But it occurred to me I was not remembering the times of tension. I wasn’t remembering the things said or left unsaid. I wasn’t remembering the things done or left undone.
And that’s because we’ve learned to keep no record of wrong.
It’s a choice we make to love that way. We don’t use the word “Always” and we don’t use the word “Never”
Because no one always always and no one never nevers.
That’s a choice we’ve had to make.
How are your relationship going?
We need to honour each other; to give room for people to deal with the realities of life the way they need to deal with the realities of life.
We don’t know how long this time of self-imposed exile for the good of the realm is going to be; but we do know how to endure and look at the context around this passage as well.
Colossians 3:14-4:18 New Living Translation (NLT)
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favourites. Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.
If you need a prescription to help you seek peace during this time of self imposed exile for the good of the realm, we have it here.
How do you treat your spouse? With love and honour
How do you treat your parents? You obey them
How do you treat your children? Don’t aggravate them
How do you work from home? Remember you’re working for God, not your boss. not your paycheque. Work with excellence.
I don’t know if you picked up the tip for endurance.
And always be thankful - With thankful hearts - giving thanks through Him to God.
Gratitude is what makes all of this possible. As long as you have gratitude you can treat each other this way. As long as you choose gratitude you will have resilience to keep on keeping on.
You’ll have resilience to love and honour, you’ll have resilience to obey, you’ll have resilience to work as unto the Lord.
As soon as you stop choosing gratitude, you will grow weary in all the good you’re doing.
Keep a gratitude journal. Tell people you appreciate them. Check your peace. If it’s not there, check your gratitude towards God.
Do you need help with gratitude? Get a free coaching call at https://revtrev.com/coaching