living the life

peace: a matter of focus

February 11, 2007
This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series peace

Last time, I wrote about God's perfect peace that comes to those who stay focused on Him. We find this wonderful promise of peace in Isaiah 26:3:

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You.

According to Isaiah, the key to keeping our minds stayed or fixed on God is to trust God. Sounds simple enough, and those of us who have been in church for long know we ought to trust God. This is one of those times, though, when it’s easier said than done. Circumstance gets in the way, and many things compete for our attention. My work is not going well: do I keep my mind fixed on that problem or on God? Money is tight, my child has a health problem, a tragedy has occurred to a close friend–the list goes on. As the commercial says, “Life comes at you fast.” And with each problem, we are tested in our focus.

And it really is a matter of focus. continue reading

Read the full article →

peace, perfect peace

February 6, 2007
This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series peace

In my previous posts, I’ve touched on the role of our thinking in regard to peace: the peace of Christ rules in our hearts when we submit our thoughts and feelings to peace (Colossians 3:15), and the peace that passes understanding can guard our hearts and minds when we let go of anxious thinking and […]

Read the full article →

peace on the inside

February 2, 2007
This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series peace

Tuesday, I wrote about letting peace be the umpire in Colossians 3:15 and started to explore what that entails. Submission is one part; an umpire, by definition, has authority to make a call, and the umpire’s authority necessitates my submission to that call. And that leads me to the second big idea: an umpire only makes […]

Read the full article →

let peace be the umpire

January 30, 2007
This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series peace

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. (Colossians 3:15) I have been thinking about peace and joy for the past week, prompted by listening to Joyce Meyer encourage me not to let others steal my joy or my peace. The question becomes, then, […]

Read the full article →

love covers many sins

October 20, 2006

In this meditation from By Faith Alone, Martin Luther considers 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Here, Peter builds upon a passage from the book of Proverbs: “Hate starts quarrels, but love covers every wrong” (Proverbs 10:12). And this is what Peter means: If you don’t restrain your sinful nature and desires, you will easily become angry with others. You will be unable to forgive others easily. So make sure you curb your evil desires. Then you will be able to love and forgive others, for love covers sin.

Read the full article →

entering the presence of God

October 9, 2006

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his […]

Read the full article →

mighty to save

October 2, 2006

Since last Thursday, I’ve been trying to write about Isaiah 63:1, where God declares Himself “mighty to save.” My goal is to blog before 6 a.m. each day, mostly because I have no interruptions that early in morning. I occasionally manage to blog later in the day, but not often. And so it has been for the last several days.

I was up and ready to write, but about 5:15, Zack came in panicked about a project he had due that day. So Thursday was gone, and Friday morning too, as I helped him proofread an assignment (we’re working on procrastination!). Friday night Zack had two friends over to celebrate his fourteenth birthday (I think they went to sleep about 3 a.m.), and Saturday morning Isaac played soccer at 8. Yesterday, we had a mother-daughter tea party in honor of Anna’s sixth birthday (tea parties are harder to pull off than you might think). And these are just the big things that happened! I’ve been running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off for the last several days.

Throughout all this frenetic activity, I’ve been hanging on to “mighty to save.” Last Thursday, I read Charles Spurgeon's devotional on this verse. Spurgeon’s vivid language brings out the richness of these three words mighty to save:

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →