A preacher was especially invited by the Elders to restore godliness to their very troubled congregation. On his first Sunday, after learning the details, he was very frustrated. He began his sermon, “Everyone in this congregation is going to hell if they don’t change their ways!” One man in the back began to laugh. So, the preacher said it again louder: “Everyone in this congregation is going to hell if they don’t change their ways!” But the man continued to laugh. Incredulous, the preacher went back to him and asked him why he was laughing. He answered, “Because I don’t belong to this congregation!”
If somebody ever gave you the impression that an overwhelming sense of peace was going to abide in you from your baptism till your dying day, I’m sure that by now you have worked out that it just isn’t going to happen.
Don’t get me wrong, that feeling of peace at baptism is real—There will never be another day like it. But it soon becomes obvious that becoming a Christian brings a set of problems of its own.
When Jesus said, “I will be with you until the end of the age” (Mt.28:20), he meant it! Putting on Christ in baptism taps you into “God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine” (Phil.4:7). The fruit of faith, hope and love is peace. But peace lived out in this wicked world—Peace amidst tribulation.
Yes, Jesus says it can be yours:
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (Jn.16:33).
The apostle Peter brings the mechanics of the peaceful life into everyday living. He tells us to “seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil” (1Pet.3:11-12).
May the peace of Christ be upon you.
John Staiger
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