submission

peace on the inside

2/2/2007 · 0 comments

in living the life

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 a call when there’s potential for dispute. An arbitrator is needed only when conflict or disagreement exists. Notice what Paul says here: “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” He’s been talking about relationships in the preceding verses, so it’s interesting that he doesn’t say “let the peace of Christ rule in your relationships,” though he brings it back to that with the rest of the verse as he says, “to which indeed you were called in one body.” Paul seems to be saying that peace in my heart will enable peace in my relationships.

Newsflash: I can’t be at peace with others if I’m not at peace within and with myself! read the complete post

Tagged as: arbitrator, Christ, colossians 3, hearts, live_in_peace, offense, peace, relationships, Rule, submission, thinking, umpire

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let peace be the umpire

1/30/2007 · 0 comments

in living the life

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, what is joy? and what is peace? I think we know them when we have them, but since we don’t always have them, they can seem rather elusive, hard to pin down.

I’ve decided to tackle peace first. read the complete post

Tagged as: Amplified Bible, arbitrator, Christ, hearts, joyce_meyer, peace, peace_and_joy, relationships, study_tool, submission, thinking, umpire

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where are you living?

June 27, 2006

I’m reading Graham Cooke’s The Secret of a Powerful Inner Life–less than 60 pages, but slow going because there’s so much to think about. Here’s what caught my attention this morning:

How much of our “spirituality” is threatened by opposition? Do we feel the urge to control or dominate in human confrontations? How much of our peace is destroyed by conflict? How easily upset are we? How long does it take us to regain normal, good humor? How vulnerable are we to anger, resentment, and bitterness? How long do we hold a grudge? How quick are we to forgive? How willing are we to be restored?

If the answer to any of those questions is, in any way, negative, we are more likely living in our souls than in our spirits.

Ouch!

Lest this leave you feeling overwhelmed with your failures, Cooke offers hope in the next paragraph:

God is breaking our controlling selves by enabling us to submit to the spiritual fruit of self-control. Our dominatnig, manipulative selves must become humble and submissive to Christ. We must learn to reassert our wills as the vehicle of the spirit over our emotions and thought lives.

Read the full article →