Tuesday 31st March 2020 Devotion
Scripture:- Luke 2:1-14
Topic:- Peace God’s Ultimate Goal [2]
Text:- Romans 12:18
The world into which Jesus was born had a very different understanding of the concept of peace than we have today. Our English word peace originates from an Old French word meaning “reconciliation, silence, agreement, the absence of hostility.”
But the Hebrew word shalom has a much richer meaning. This word is found more than two hundred times in the Old Testament. Its basic meaning is “to be whole, or safe, or sound.”
Shalom designates a condition in which life can best be lived. It is the concept of integrity; body, soul, and spirit are in alignment. In shalom, you have more than the absence of hostility. You have a quality of life that nurtures peace.
Shalom is “the condition of everything being set right. It’s about fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness, harmony, tranquility, security, well-being, welfare, friendship, agreement, success, prosperity. It’s about the total well-being of the person and the community.
It’s one of the deepest longings of the human heart.” Shalom means all is well in my life; everything is integrated in my life. When Jesus came, He brought that certainty to us. He is the only way to have that peace in your life.
Commenting on this peace with God, Ray Stedman wrote with excitement, “Our hearts are at peace!… Calmness, courage!
To use a modern term, and, I think the most accurate, we have good ‘morale.’ Our morale is high. We are ready for anything. No ground can be too rough for Christ and we have Christ. Therefore we have good morale.”
About twenty-two years ago I was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of cancer that, at the time, had a very poor survival rate.
Shortly after my diagnosis I went to the Mayo Clinic and was operated on immediately. To determine the extent of the cancer, they basically cut me stem to stern.
After my surgery I was taken to another floor to recover. On this floor the patient rooms were in a circle, with the nurses’ station and desks for staff in the middle.
As soon as it was possible, the doctors wanted me up and moving around. Of course, that was the last thing I felt like doing. But knowing this was an important part of my recovery, I pushed myself to do a full lap around the nurses’ station, starting at my room and passing every other patient’s room until I reached my own room again. My goal that first day was one lap, and I was barely able to finish it.
The next day I decided to push myself to do two laps. My plan was to do one more lap each day than I’d done the day before. So I set out, walking slowly around the circle.
By a strange coincidence, the doctor who had performed my surgery was dictating his notes about me when I shuffled by his desk. All I remember hearing him say was, “A Pastor who has stage four large cell lymphoma cancer.” I was stunned. Until that moment I hadn’t known how serious my condition was.
Somehow I completed those two laps and got back to my room. I can remember sitting there, feeling scared and overwhelmed. But then, that feeling completely left me and was replaced by another.
I’m not in control of my life, I told myself. But the Spirit of God is. A sense of what I can only describe as “good morale” came over me.
I would let God do His work, and I would do mine. After that, my only thought was, Well, I’ll have to do three laps tomorrow.
For twenty-two years I didn’t share that story with anyone, not even my wife. But as I was writing this chapter, it came powerfully to mind.
This resiliently good morale is the peace God gives us when we turn our lives over to Him. In the face of a terrible diagnosis, the Lord’s peace was resilient, and I persevered with good morale.
Over the next few months I underwent two rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, at the end of which I was in remission. Today I remain cancer-free.
If things are bad on the outside but the Holy Spirit is in charge on the inside, He will give you peace when you surrender your life to Jesus, our Prince of Peace, and express the yearning for.
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, let Your peace that passes all understanding envelope me henceforth by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Have A Wonderful Tuesday And Month Ending!
