Experiencing the Peace of Christ This New Year

Experiencing the Peace of Christ This New Year

As we enter a new year many changes will be taking place in all of our lives.   Children will be growing, students making decisions where to go to college and what career to pursue, adults may be challenged with job changes, relationship changes, and living changes.  No matter what the case, a new year brings change.  Alongside of change, come questions, uncertainty, possible fears, and exciting new horizons to be explored.  Change can also often bring unrest.  Our finite minds often grope striving to find the solutions to future situations, wondering what the future may hold.  We wonder what is the wisest thing to do, and what action will have the “best” outcome for the future.

In my own life I have experienced change over the years.  Like many people I have experienced the changes that take place throughout childhood, graduation, and choosing a career.  I have been privileged to serve in the military, which was a huge change from civilian life.  I have been forced to move with the military multiple times, saying good bye to friends and hello to new friends.  I have gone from small town to big city and had to learn to cope with a new environment.  From single to married and from just a husband to now a father.  Each New Year brings new change.

 So how do we cope with all of this change?  Where can we find right answers?  Where can we find peace?  Who can we ask that will really be able to help?  What can I lean on to find rest?  As I have been wrestling with these same questions, and same unrest, I have begun to find more and more comfort in God.  We are told by God in the Bible that He never changes (Numbers 23:19).  His character and will remains the same from all eternity to all eternity (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17).

The inscription in pace ("in peace") with the dove and orante describe
 the peaceful state of the dead in Christ.
Photo found on http://www.jesuswalk.com/christian-symbols/dove.htm   

In addition to His unchanging nature, we are also comforted by His presence (the Holy Spirit) and His desires which are clearly revealed to us through His word.  Furthermore, as noted in a recent sermon, Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh.  Not only do we have God’s revealed will from the earlier writings of the prophets, we have the historical accounts of the person of God living out His Word as our example, and the writings of the New Testament Apostles to explain the implications of Jesus’ example.

The writer of Hebrews states, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,  in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:1-3, NASB).  Later in Hebrews, we read that the written word is alive, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, NASB).

 So you may be saying, “Okay, God does not change and He has clearly revealed His will to me, but how does that help me with my worries, fears, and hard decisions?  Good question!  You see, as we desire to know God more and His will for us we are called to encounter Him through His clear and lucid Word (the Bible).  In the Bible we encounter the person of Jesus, and the will of God.  The more we know God’s word (the Bible) the more we will know God’s Word (Jesus), and thus find the answers to our questions and comfort in our time of need.

 Paul tells young Timothy, “ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17, NIV).  God has not left us to fend for ourselves.  If we search for Him and His will in His word we will find Him (2 Pet. 1:19-21).  Thus, if we find the One who can guide us, direct us, and comfort us we will find rest for our souls.  In doing His will there is perfect peace.  Let us delight in the word of the Lord this year, making it our goal to meditate upon it day and night!  Happy New Year!

^~Trev

Psalm 1

 1  Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked 
   or stand in the way that sinners take     or sit in the company of mockers, ² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
   and who meditates on his law day and night.
   and who meditates on his law day and night.³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of wa-   
   which yields its fruit in season
   and whose leaf does not wither—
   whatever they do prospers.
   They are like chaff
   that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
   nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
   nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
   but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

   ter,

⁴ Not so the wicked!

⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

(NIV, Vs. 2. Meditate , here is defined as pondering, thinking about, mindful action as opposed to some forms of meditation which consists of emptying your mind)