By Minister Moses – October 2011
Read on if this sounds familiar…
The first time you encountered God you were overcome with a profound feeling of acceptance, of justification and an encompassing sense of peace. “How could such a majestic being have any regard for me?”
Over time, however, you realised just how perfect He is, and imperfect you are.
You gradually developed a feeling of inadequacy and unworthiness that distorted that initial sense of awe into a feeling of anxiety. Your peace dissipated, and you were left constantly trying to navigate a complex matrix of rules, doctrines and bad habits. Now you find yourself lost and tangled up, feeling all but disqualified to inherit His promises?
I’m sure it does.
Peace is all pervading, especially when it’s not there. But by its nature peace is a completely unobtrusive force; much like oxygen, when it’s there it is hardly noticeable. However when it disappears it gives way to a suffocating anxiety, and it is only then that we appreciate its subtle, life affirming presence.
Peace makes perfect everything we hold dear to our lives. Without it success, wealth, good health, fame and even family all diminish in value very quickly indeed. It goes without saying therefore, that it is of huge importance for us to identify how we can establish and maintain this internal togetherness. Over the next few weeks I’ll respectively consider the sanctity of our hearts as they relate to God and the sanity of our minds as they relate to our own circumstances and hopefully share some effective principles that can help you lead a more peaceful life.
Peace with God
Peace of heart begins fundamentally with our own perceived standing with God.
Romans 5:1 – ‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’. In other words, peace with God can only stem from a consciousness of our forgiveness or right-standing with Him. This justification isn’t established by us living up to God’s impossible standards, but through faith – simply believing what He has said about our forgiveness. This ‘faith’ is a gift that God has readily given to all of us, and from which glows a warm sense of assurance within.
Most Christians will have no problem with believing they are at peace with God having just said the believer’s prayer. The problem emerges, paradoxically, as the years roll on and we supposedly grow in faith; the grey cloud of uncertainty rises within and we lose sense and sight of our actually immovable position of justification with God.
Subconsciously, we are led into a walk with God motivated by a desperate fear of all the terrible things He may do to us should we fail to meet His exacting standards; and let’s be honest, there is no shortage of doomsday heralds willing to scare us senseless into submission rather than remind us of the encompassing joy, peace and love we felt all those years ago when we first got into this business!
Perhaps this is what the believers in Rome were struggling with when Paul wrote in chapter 8, verse 15 of the same book – ‘The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to son-ship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Evidently, these were believers who, upon initial salvation, thoroughly enjoyed their newfound sense of right-standing with God. They saw him as their ‘Dad of Daddy’ as the term ‘Abba Father’ suggests, and in that spirit, as any young child who wants to please their parents for no other reason than because they love them, did everything out of a motivation to make him proud.
Familiarly, this all changed.
As time went on, they, as we all do, became increasingly aware of their own inabilities to live up to God’s standard, and thus began to walk in fear rather than faith; a fear that stifles and enslaves. Paul then effectively says “No, this is not what God has called us to! He hasn’t called us to peace through our perfection. He called us to peace through justification, justification that comes from him!”
I’d venture that this problem often stems from our best intentions. We enter our relationship with God with a clean bill of health which we are keen not to ruin, but honeymoons don’t last forever! Our imperfections as human beings are inexorable; we fall, we fail, and we do so over and over again – usually over the same issues. As we do so, we feel as though we deserve increasingly less of God’s forgiveness and love, so much so that we reach a point at which we are no longer at peace to walk with Him with any sense of belonging or justification.
This may be our perception, but the truth is far, far different.
God isn’t surprised by our enduring propensity to miss the mark, and He has made ample provision for it.
God has taken away the offense of our sin, even though we still remain with the ability to do so; His forgiveness is timeless and complete.
Reversing the Trend
So to reverse any feelings of fear and anxiety and replace them with a heart motivated by love, I’m making one very simple prescription. We have to walk in the knowledge that God has got everything covered. His grace doesn’t run out and it’s sufficient for you, me and ‘the whole world’ according to the book of John.
Don’t forget God’s forgiveness; see Him as your father rather than your task master. When this begins to saturate your soul you’ll spend less energy trying to survive – leave that to him – and more enjoying the fruit of life, a peaceful of heart.
MM
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