Thoughts from an evening service, part 1- Peace

Seems like an appropriate topic, no? I'm going to reflect on today's message as well as the Nehemiah one from a couple weeks ago (no show on the 31st yet. . . I went to the website, saw it was up, got REAL excited, then played it to find it was only a 12 second clip. Talk about a cliffhanger!)

However, I have lunch plans now (apparently) so it won't be until later.

Go read this and think about it until I get back: what love is

LATER: Well, lunch plans turned into a trip to IKEA (not for me: no new furniture for this bachelor pad. . . c'mon, I took a stool out of the garbage, who do you think I am? haha), Lowe's, and dinner. The plus side is that now my salsa, spinach/artichoke dip, and fruit salad are mostly gone. I didn't think I would be out this late though. . . still, I want to post a few things, even if I have to come back tomorrow to finish it up.

First off, a few things from a couple weeks ago. We finally got to the completion of the wall in Nehemiah (the passage is here). The interesting part to me was that it wasn't about building the wall, but rather that other nations saw the hand of God in the process. A few quotes/paraphrases/thoughts I jotted down (in pencil!! which smears. . . poor choice):
-People should look at us and say, "I know him/her, so that's GOT to be God."
-Our imperfections prove that God is in our lives through His successes.
-When we chase after our vision, we silence opposition.
-Are we chasing after God's glorification on Earth?
Finally, there were four things mentioned that people out to see in our lives that show we have God in our lives:
1) peace
2) relationships
3) character
4) love
This is what I have been thinking about for the past couple weeks. What do other people see in my life? What have I been working on that I need to continue to do so, and what haven't I started fixing that I need to? Let's break it down.

Peace- First, here is dictionary.com's definition. I think it's interesting that the first few entries are about peace as in the opposite of war. It's not until 5/6 that we start to get into peace as in peace of mind. Most people, if not thinking about world peace and harmony, think that peace comes only from happy times (when things are going well) or with vacation times (although for some people, vacations are more of a hassle than anything else). What is it that gives peace? Some people might say music, others surroundings/environments, still others find peace through talking to or being around a particular person or group of people.

Let's compare this to some Bible verses about peace (there's quite a few, and it's not nearly all of them; just ones I found interesting). Obviously there are many OT references to peace (not-war type). And there's also this phrase that comes up a lot in the NT: "Peace be with you." Jesus says it to the disciples after the ressurection, and quite a few of the various letters begin or end with something about peace. Romans tells us that peace comes because of our justification through faith. Jesus listed peacemakers as a beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount. Pslam 85 says two important things: God promises peace to His followers (which is then followed by a plea from the Psalmist to keep the Israelites from their follies) and peace, which is directly related to righteousness, comes from above to Earth (while faithfulness comes up from Earth). Proverbs tells us that all paths of wisdom are peace (which, I'm not going to get into a discussion of wisdom). It also says that a heart of peace is not a heart of envy. Isaiah and John both tell us that peace will not leave us, and there's no reason to be afraid. We'll come back to Phillipians (not because I have my own specific insight about it, but if I remember correctly, Pastor Dan talked about this passage at the first Wed. Night prayer meeting that I attended WAY back in the fall that he just happened to be filling in for) (two prepositions. . . get used to it). Ephesians tells us to keep peace with the Body of Christ. And, of course, peace is a fruit of the Spirit.

So, from all of that, I gather the following points:
-True peace comes only from God, and comes only when we accept Christ into our lives.
-Seeking after God is one way in which we can find peace.
-We are called not only to seek for peace in our lives, but to also seek peaceful relations with others.
Phillipians offers something even more interesting (again, not originally from my mind). It says first that we should rejoice ALWAYS. It does not say that we should be happy WITH our circumstances, but that we should be happy IN our circumstances. My LASB says it well: "Our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outer circumstances." It's a matter of perspective. God is in control; bad circumstances are meant to teach us something or strengthen something that has already been put inside of us. We should be so happy that God wants US to become more like HIM. He didn't spare His own Son difficult situations, even to the point of death! Also, rejoicing does not mean "smiling like an idiot and pretending everything is fine."
Second, our "gentleness should be evident to all." Sometimes we forget that all human beings were created in God's image, not just the people we like or want to interact with. Think about that the next time you become angry with someone, especially those who are paid to be servers (waiters, cashiers, etc). This is not to say there aren't times to become angry, but I think that you should only be angry with the sin, circumstance, or situation, and through all of that still love the PERSON. If they do not know Christ, this all the more reason to love them through whatever is going on.
Third, we should not worry, but instead pray. And we should pray with thanksgiving (just a reminder; like "wisdom," today is not the day to open the can of worms about "prayer") (and I'm still not a theologian)! And there's another part; we should pray about EVERYTHING. This to me is just a statement of being aware of God in our entire lives and not just when we go to church. If we are in constant conversation with Him, how can we not be seeking to do things that please Him?
And, finally, when these three lines are in point, we will receive the peace of God. The peace which trascends all understanding. . . sounds wonderful, doesn't it? So, if we don't have peace in our lives, what are we doing to get it? Are we just asking God for it without taking any steps to make it happen? Maybe we need to be rejoicing, gentle, and praying thankfully and constantly. Because think about it: if we are recognizing that God is strengthening us, we are not creating conflicts with others, and we are aware and thankful for His presence in our lives, what could give us more peace of mind than that?

So now I ask myself: what do I not feel peace about? The most obvious answer is my job. Sometimes things feel great. But days like last Friday wear on me. Why? Well, I can tell you that I wasn't rejoicing that there were only 5 students after school, and 3 of them left before 3:30. I wasn't happy with one of my student's attitude, and while I don't think I handled her inappropriately, I definitely could have been gentler. And I certainly wasn't trusting that God will do a great work through me (and in spite of me), nor was I really talking to Him about it. The challenge for me, then, is three-fold: I have to always find joy in my job, no matter what's going on; I need to interact with my students, parents, and administration with gentleness (probably the easiest, but again, this must be no matter what the circumstances); I must pray first out of thankfulness for the job and all the great things that came from it, and ask that God will use me, my talents, and my passions to make something great out of what often seems like an impossible task.



. . . this is becoming a bigger task than I originally thought it would. I'm gonna separate out the next three ideas, just for ease of reading. Expect part 2 to come up in a few hours.