Skip to main content

June 26 Reconciling Peace

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided. When your ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even your enemies live at peace with you. ~Proverbs 16:6-7

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though, for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ~Romans 5:6-8

I will listen to what the Lord will say. He promises peace to His people, His saints—but let them not return to folly. Surely His salvation is near those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before Him and prepares the way for His steps. ~Psalm 85:8-13

Thinking back to yesterday, what if we were to say that David died for Goliath? How would that sit with you? When we consider that we are all sinners, that because of our sin, we were once enemies of God, and that we all have issues of pride and selfishness to deal with, when Christ died for us, isn’t that like David dying for Goliath?

“Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for.” It is because of God’s love for His creation. God’s unconditionally loving character was determined to save us, even though we were trying to destroy everything that he made good. Because of His great love for us, our sin was atoned, or paid for. It wasn’t because of anything good in us. We were like renters who couldn’t make the rent payments. We should have been evicted, but instead, we were given the house! We were forgiven so much because of His love.

“Through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.” When we love Him back, we no longer want to destroy His creation or His plan. We want to live in harmony with Him, so we listen, do what He says, and grow in how to care for all He has made. We want to avoid the evil that threatens us and His plan because we want to please Him in every way. We love and respect Him and desire to give back what little gifts we can: praise, offerings of thanks. and service to others, because we know that this pleases Him very much.

“When your ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even your enemies live at peace with you.” The one who pleased Him the most was Jesus Himself when, in obedience, He allowed Himself to be crucified on the cross, for us, the created. Through His death, we, His enemies, were reconciled with God, making peace with Him. David died for Goliath so that Goliath could experience reconciliation and live at peace with David.

When we acknowledge all He has done for us then we welcome that peace. Pity those who will have to acknowledge God’s sovereign authority over them, and their guilt before him. while still being His enemy. “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11)

“He makes even your enemies live at peace with you.” When our ways please the Lord, we can experience peace as well. Remember, our goal is not to be known as quarrelsome creatures, but peace makers. When we disagree, it should be with gentleness and our love for our opponent should also guide us, not our desire to win and conquer. It’s God’s kindness that draws others to Him. (Romans 2:4) As imitators of Him, we should do the same.

Prayer: Thank You Lord God for being my heavenly Father and loving me so much! I love you too! And You too Jesus, and Holy Spirit who stays with me, so I know and believe and want to love You back! It’s wonderful! It’s amazing! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Song: Reckless Love  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

174. Pleading for the Fig Tree

Proverbs 27:18 , Luke 13:6-9 Key Verse: He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored. Proverbs 27:18 We have here three main characters: a master, who acquired the tree in hopes of eventually enjoying its fruit, a servant, who looks to the tree to reflect his care and attention, and lastly, the tree itself. The master has the right to expect his investment to pay off. The servant, who has obviously put much effort into the tree, would also like to see fruit. The servant's interest is not only to show his own talent in gardening, but because he wants to please his master. Both the servant and the master are dependent upon the tree to do what it was designed to do. Their little parable is an interesting way for Jesus to finish off His exhortation to, "repent or perish."  God is the Master. He had a purpose for you before you were even born. ( Jeremiah 1:5 & Psalm 139:16 ) He planted you on this earth to ful...
Post a Comment
Read more

204. Come Like a Child

Psalm 127 , Matthew 19:13-15 , Luke 18:15-17 , Mark 10:13-16 Key Verse: Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14 The attitude of the disciples isn't much different than the attitude of many people, even Christians, today. Instead of seeing children as a blessing from the Lord, too many regard them as a burden to bear that gets in the way of our own selfish happiness. Family size is determined by what we think we can afford rather than openness to God's blessing, trusting God to provide. Satan hates children. Children represent innocence. The sooner he can corrupt and or damage a child, the happier he is. This is why Jesus warned in Matthew 18:6: "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drown in the depths of the sea." To corrupt or damage ...
Post a Comment
Read more