“The Current of Peace"

"The Current of Peace"

   

    Our spiritual enemies tempt us with notions of burdensome sacrifice regarding God's will.  Obedience to our Lord does involves sacrifice, of course.  Great challenge, difficulty, loss, and pain may indeed accompany faithfulness to Him.  However, they lie when they suggest that obedience to God is burdensome.

   "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

    Our Lord motivates and empowers all genuine obedience to Himself.  Thus, the easy yoke and the light burden accompany every step we journey along the path of righteousness.  Even when great sacrifice is involved, including martyrdom, obedience to God as enabled by the Holy Spirit fills the heart with the peace of rest.  Indeed, if we could speak to those who through the centuries sacrificed their very lives for the Lord Jesus Christ, all would tell us that blessing rather than burden accompanied their earthly departure.  Obedience to the Lord, regardless of accompanying bodily or emotional suffering, graces the heart with the assurance of rightness and goodness.  "Burden?"  The martyrs would scoff.  "Blessing!" they would exult.  Or, as the disciples of old experienced when first they encountered opposition to their testimony of the Lord Jesus:  "They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name" (Acts 5:41).

    The devil, the world, and the flesh lie when they tempt us with any notion of God's will as being less than the true delight of our hearts.  We may suffer for our obedience to God, and the truth of the matter is that every act of faith and faithfulness involves sacrifice to one degree or another.  However, we swim with the current of peace only when we trust and obey the Maker and Master of the river.  Obedience to God, at whatever earthly cost, bestows Heavenly tranquility in the heart devoted and submitted to His will.  Any contrary notion proceeds from the father of lies himself, Satan, and from those who serve as his voices of delusion, deception, and discouragement.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

(I John 5:3-4)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 6:23)