PEACE

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:6-7

Last week my youngest son asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I replied, “world peace.” It is an answer I commonly give when asked what I “want” because I know that it is as unattainable. He smiled and said, “I gave you that last year and it didn’t work out to well.” We laughed. Then I will usually say, “What I want only God can give me.” My kids hate that. (Well, it’s not like I am hard to buy for….Hello?....CHOCOLATE! ......Anyway, back to “peace.”)

Peace is something that many people seek, and some long for, but few find it. Oh, they think they can attain it by works, but they can’t. They print the word on Christmas ornaments, and wrapping paper, but it is just a word that is associated with Christmas. Few people truly know what it is. Most would pay top dollar for it, if they thought they could buy it. Rest assured that if there was a way a store could market it, they would. Can you imagine a store advertisement that reads, “If you want peace you can buy it here? Only $9.99 for a limited time.” I am being silly, of course, but in today’s world people think they can buy and sell anything! Most think that true happiness and joy can be bought for a price, so why not peace? 

Real peace only comes from God. If you are reading this and you have never accepted Christ as your Saviour, you will never know real peace or joy until you do. Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for your sin, dear soul, and He wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to share real peace and joy with you but you must repent of your sin and ask His forgiveness before you will ever know this peace which I am about to speak of. Real peace and joy come only after salvation.

The world thinks peace means the absence of conflict, but they are wrong. If anyone wants to have peace with God or that comes from God, they must first do what God commands. In the beginning of Philippians chapter four, Paul is telling the church at Philippi to stand fast in the Lord, to help their fellow laborers in the Gospel, and to rejoice in the Lord always. Then he tells them to let their requests be made known unto God. Christians like to take verses like this and turn them into a “spiritual buffet” where we pick and choose what we want and leave the rest for others. For example, one might like the part about standing fast in the truth but he doesn’t want to be of the same mind in Christ. You will not find true peace in this kind of an attitude. God’s Word is for ALL of us and there is nothing in it that is not needed. He expects ALL his children to listen to ALL he says, and do ALL he commands. We should all stand fast. We should all help others. We should all be moderate. We should all be of the same mind in the Lord. We do these things because they are right. But when we do, peace and joy come to our heart whether we were looking for them or not. 

God’s peace is not temporal like that which you would get from the world. The things of this world will work for a little while, but they will not actually make anything better. God changes things. God changes people. God makes all things NEW! He doesn’t save us and just expect us to take on the world by ourselves. He gives us the spiritual tools to fight the fleshly lusts that would cause us to go astray. These are the tools that will help “keep your hearts and minds.” Sin is everywhere, but so is God’s grace. It’s all in the attitude of our heart. We have to control what we think. (Phil.4:8) Everyday we see adultery, fornication, theft, and murder on television and in movies. No matter what the “hero” does he always comes out okay in the end. Real life is not like that. There are consequences for our sin, and it is never a happy ending. These consequences rob us of our peace and joy.  Everyone that is a Christian can have peace, but it depends on US, and how we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you are lost, you NEED Christ as your Saviour in order to have peace. If you are a child of God, you NEED the Word of God as your constant guide. Peace and joy are REAL virtues that can only be found in Jesus Christ. 

ADJUSTING YOUR CONTENTMENT LEVEL

1 Timothy 6:6-8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”

My Daddy, Rev. Charles W. Savage, II, was called to preach in the early 1970’s. I cannot remember the year, but I was very little. In 1974 he moved our family from Ohio to Missouri, so that he could attend Bible College. We left behind most all of our relatives, i.e., aunts, uncles, grandparents. In Daddy’s family, he was number nine out of twelve children, and one of maybe two, who moved farther than a one hundred mile radius from his parents. After he graduated, he felt the Lord wanted him to go work with a pastor in Texas. This move took us even farther from our family. Though my mother, bless her heart, followed my Dad everywhere he took us, she was not extremely thrilled with the idea of Texas. Being born in Pennsylvania, she was (and is) very proper in her actions, her dress, her demeanor, and found the people here to be somewhat gruff, and VERY un-accepting of “Yankees.” She jokingly would say that her life verse was, Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever “state” I am, therewith to be content.” Still, no matter where the Lord’s work took us Daddy always made sure our needs were met, and Mother always made a comfortable home there for our family. And, regardless of the income we never lacked in anything. Our “anything” may not have been “everything”, and it may not have always been the “newest” thing, but we always had what we needed. We had the Lord, we had a home, and we had food, clothing, and each other. We were content.

In today’s world, the very idea that home, food, clothing, and family would be enough to keep a person satisfied has become quite foreign to us. We are so bombarded with materialism that contentment is very hard to find. We find ourselves looking at what others have and coveting after it. Our eyes bug out at material wealth and our tongues hang, like a dog, as we wish and want for what belongs to someone else. Some will even forsake God, their family and home to have BIGGER and BETTER “things.” The only thing that Christians ought to “pant after” is a closer relationship with the Lord. 

Coveting will cause you to have the wrong priorities. It will also keep you from trusting God. I’m reminded of the rich man (Luke 12:15-21) that had so much that he had to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. He trusted in his “stuff” instead of in the Saviour. 

Coveting will cause you to harbor hatred and bitterness towards those who have more material wealth than you do. This jealousy can start to fester in a person and cause them to do things they never thought themselves capable of, like stealing, adultery, and murder. 

It is so easy to get caught up in the acquiring of material wealth that you forget to trust in the Lord to meet your needs. I am not saying that in order to be God’s child you have to live in poverty here on earth. But we do tend to leave the path of righteousness to pursue our own fame and fortune. After acquiring either, we thirst for more. It seems the more you get, the more you want. Then, after a while, you wish you never had it. You may not visibly see the benefit of living an honest, loving, righteous life but God promises to reward those who live for HIS honor and glory. Remember our text verse, “But godliness WITH contentment is great gain.” We have to learn to be content. We have to learn to value spiritual things more than physical things. As Christians we should not be seeking happiness in material wealth, worldly fame or financial gain. Being content comes from believing that God is sufficient to supply our needs. With God there is inner peace, true joy, and full assurance of salvation. These are things that can NEVER be taken away from you. These riches can only be found in HIM, and they are the only things that will truly satisfy your soul.