Humble Peace

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

6 Ταπεινώθητε οὖν ὑπὸ τὴν κραταιὰν χεῖρα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα ὑμᾶς ὑψώσῃ ἐν καιρῷ, 7  πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν ὑμῶν ἐπιρίψαντες ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν, ὅτι αὐτῷ μέλει περὶ ὑμῶν.

The end of this book contains some quick proverbial commands and sayings that we would do well to hold on to.  This is one of the big ones.  Peter has just finished giving commands both to elders and younger people.  Basically, younger people are to submit to their elders.  However, elders are not to rule like despots either.  All of this is bathed in the grace of God.

Here Peter puts together two really powerful verses.  First, he tells his readers that they are to Ταπεινώθητε.  This is an aorist imperative passive.  It means that they are to humble themselves, or be humbled.  Of course, it's pretty easy to be humbled when you consider τὴν κραταιὰν χεῖρα τοῦ θεοῦ.  What other reaction is there to God's powerful and mighty hand?  As I've written many times before, I don't understand how you can truly have an encounter with the living God and not be humbled.

Verse 7 is where I really want to focus though.  Continuing the imperative command starting this sentence, we see that we are to πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν ὑμῶν ἐπιρίψαντες ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν.  This is also in the aorist, but it is an active participle.  Basically, I see this as giving further explanation of what we are to as we humble ourselves.  How does this fit together?

As soon as we realize that God is in charge and we are not then we have no cause to be anxious.  I get anxious when I feel like there is something I need to do, but I can't do it.  Or maybe there is a situation that I want to control, but can't.  For example, relational pressures can make me quite anxious.  But the anxiety wanes as soon as I realize that I am not in control.  I can't change anyone.  Only God can.  And in fact, it reminds me that I need to pray for my own attitude and behavior since I can't control anyone else's.

The bigger we think we are then the more anxious we will feel.  We think that we need to do so much, but God is in charge.  Christ is on His throne and He has things under control.  They may not go the way we think that they should, but if we really apply this passage we will realize that God has a better plan than we do, whether we believe it or not.  This was a huge comfort to me when we went through the disappointment of the molar pregnancy between Lily and Noah.

As the song says, God is God and I am not.  The more deeply I realize that the more easily I can cast my anxieties on Him.  What a blessed peace that brings!

Our Spirit

2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

7 οὐ γὰρ ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς πνεῦμα δειλίας ἀλλὰ δυνάμεως καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ σωφρονισμοῦ.

In this second letter Paul is giving Timothy some exhortations.  Remember, this is the last time Paul would write to Timothy, so he had to make this count.  Here he explains about how Timothy received the Holy Spirit after Paul laid hands on him and prayed over him.  This verse explains the type of spirit we received.  It is one of δυνάμεως καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ σωφρονισμοῦ.

This is one of those verses that can actually go well on the bathroom mirror or on an index card.  I am normally against turning Scripture into fortune cookie aphorisms, but this verse contains a promise that we would do well to remember often.  God did not save us so that we might be timid.  This has all kinds of implications.

For example, when you sense the Holy Spirit prompting you to tell someone about Jesus, how do you react?  Is it out of fear or is it out of His power?  I'm afraid that I fail at that frequently.  When you look at your life are you worried about how you can possibly make ends meet or do you trust in God's provision for your life?  When you approach an unknown situation do you trust in God's sovereign care over your life or do you think through all the possible ways that things can and will go wrong?

We could go through a myriad of applications with this verse.  Paul wrote this to Timothy specifically about Timothy's ministry.  However, I don't think we need to stop there.  Let's remember that God's Holy Spirit is one of power and not δειλίας, amen?

Knowing Peace

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

15 καὶ ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ Χριστοῦ βραβευέτω ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν, εἰς ἣν καὶ ἐκλήθητε ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι· καὶ εὐχάριστοι γίνεσθε.

This is one of those verses kind of sandwiched between two sections.  Paul had just finished admonishing the Colossians about the things that they must stop doing.  He's about to get into exhortations for wives to submit to husbands, husbands to love wives, and children to obey.  But here we have sort of a creamy center in this theological Oreo.

There is an old bumper sticker that reads, "Know Jesus, know peace.  No Jesus, no peace."  It may be reversed, but you get the idea.  There is a lot of truth packed into that pithy statement.  There is no true peace apart from Jesus.

"But," you may protest, "what about those holy men high up on mountains in places like Tibet?  Surely they had a peace, right?"  I would disagree with that because it would be inconsistent with their beliefs.  Yes, they are seeking peace through emptiness.  However, it is still a works-based system.  They hope that they live their lives well enough and empty themselves enough that they can break the circle of reincarnation, enter Nirvanna, or whatever.  They are still trying their best to earn favor with God/the cosmos/Brahama/etc.

Frankly, a lot of professing Christians live in the same way.  We try our best under a thinly-veiled legalism.  We think that if we have enough quiet times, tithe enough, serve enough, or whatever then we will be saved.  But that just leads to greater anxiety.  Believe me, I've been there.  Instead, we are to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  We were called to Him.  Enjoy that!  Enjoy the peace that comes from being part of that ἑνὶ σώματι.  Then Paul commands us to εὐχάριστοι γίνεσθε.  The word γίνεσθε is an imperative commanding us to be something.  What are we to be?  Thankful.

This means that an anxious Christian is an oxymoron.  There is no place for habitual anxiety in the Christian's heart.  To be anxious is to be disobedient.  Obviously we all have things that cause us stress.  Do we spiral down with those anxieties or do we get back to the clear teaching of Scripture?

I realize that this is easier said than done.  But the good news is that we have a powerful, gracious God who transforms men's hearts.  I pray that He would transform mine.  Will you join me in praying for peace?

Anxiety

Matthew 6:31-34

(31) Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

(32) For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

(33) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

(34) "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Our society is very good at being anxious. In fact, we're so good at it that there is a huge pharmaceutical industry to help people deal with their anxiety. We get anxious about our jobs. We get anxious about our families. We get anxious about acquiring more stuff. We get anxious when we drive. We're a society on edge and we seem to think it needs to be that way.

From what I've seen the church is not very much different. Sometimes we get anxious about the things that the world gets anxious about. Other times we get what we consider to be righteous anxiety about things related to the kingdom of God. We worry about how we are going to pay the bills, or maybe how we are going to get enough volunteers to work some ministry. Sadly, we often don't look much different than the world.

As a church we're very good at the big sins that involve sex or substance abuse. However, I'm not sure that we are so good with this one. Jesus expressly tells us not to be anxious. Obviously we still need to work. We don't just sit back and expect God to miraculously work things out. He uses means to accomplish His will. However, we must not be anxious about how it's all going to work out.

There is an overused phrase today of, "It is what it is." That's something we need to remember as we let ourselves get worked up about things. Either things will work out or they won't. Our attitude about it speaks volumes about our faith. Do we trust that God has a good plan or do we think that He needs our help to keep things straight? When things don't work out the way we hoped do we think that God made a mistake?

Let's seek His kingdom and His righteousness first. Once we do that our priorities will be His priorities and then we will be able to rest in His providential goodness.