Continuing in my reading of Jerry Bridges' The Practice of Godliness. Enjoyed the chapter on Peace. Bridges brings up a great point at the beginning of the chapter which I feel drives the whole topic quite nicely. To have true peace you have to start with peace with God. Then you can make peace with yourself and finally with others.
As I thought about it, I realized he has it right. You have to start with God to have true peace, because that is where you want to wind up in the end. With God, but after a journey to reach Him through His Son. Not our usual course of action. We normally start with self and move out from there. This takes an acknowledgment that we are not the cente rof our lives, God is.
The other point Bridges makes is that peace does not mean running away from issues and problems, but facing them squarely and in a Christ-like fashion. If Jesus chose not to face His problems, He never would have been in the garden the night they arrested Him. He would have been like Jonah, running in the opposite direction. But being God, He knew you could not run and faced squarely what He had to face. Running didn't work for Jonah in the end and it will not for us.
Fighting and peace do not seem to go together, but fighting for peace is what seems to be called for. The peace that begins with God. Let me battle my own sinful nature and win through to that peace first, because it is the peace that lasts.
As I thought about it, I realized he has it right. You have to start with God to have true peace, because that is where you want to wind up in the end. With God, but after a journey to reach Him through His Son. Not our usual course of action. We normally start with self and move out from there. This takes an acknowledgment that we are not the cente rof our lives, God is.
The other point Bridges makes is that peace does not mean running away from issues and problems, but facing them squarely and in a Christ-like fashion. If Jesus chose not to face His problems, He never would have been in the garden the night they arrested Him. He would have been like Jonah, running in the opposite direction. But being God, He knew you could not run and faced squarely what He had to face. Running didn't work for Jonah in the end and it will not for us.
7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith
2 Timothy 4:7 (NASB)
Fighting and peace do not seem to go together, but fighting for peace is what seems to be called for. The peace that begins with God. Let me battle my own sinful nature and win through to that peace first, because it is the peace that lasts.
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