Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Summary: Why do we need peace? The answer has to do with how we see the world. If we are looking through the lens of our own self-interest, we are not seeing life the way God wants us to see it.
Continue reading “Ephesians 2:17 – The Inner Me”For he himself is our peace,
Summary: Peace is something that many of us want but not everyone agrees. Peace has a cost and not everyone is willing to pay their share. In Christ, we find a peace that is life-changing.
Continue reading “Ephesians 2:14a – Peacemaker”Do not keep on babbling like pagans…
Summary: God is actually quite generous with clear instructions for living the way he wants us to live. Today’s meditation looks at a simple but important principle to keep in mind when we come before God in prayer.
Continue reading “Matthew 6: 7-8 — The Rabble and the Babble”
…until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Summary: Peter describes the joy of knowing Jesus by comparing his coming to the dawn after a long, dark night.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:19e — Son Rise”
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Summary: Recognizing someone you know is a kind of “knowing” that is hard to describe. Seeing a loved one after twenty years means seeing someone whose appearance has changed a lot, yet we “know” who they are. This is the kind of knowing that Peter refers to in this passage.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:2 — I’d Know You Anywhere”
For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.”
Summary: Peter quotes Psalm 34 to emphasize his point that we are called to repay evil with a blessing.
Continue reading “1 Peter 3:10-11 — In Search of Peace”
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
In our meditation on James 4: 6 (a) we examined the concept of Grace. I wrote:
“Grace is one of the simplest concepts in the Bible, and yet for some reason, it is difficult to understand. Grace is commonly understood to mean a manner of acting. For example, a ballerina dances with grace. Grace can also mean a gift or favor. In this case, I think it might mean both.
“God loves us even though we are unlovable. When a perfect being shows kindness and affection to his enemy (James 4: 4) it is an act of grace. When our God takes the extra step of giving us the means to be redeemed from Satan’s power, he does us a favor. What he gives us is the gift of Himself. We call this gift the Holy Spirit.
Continue reading “1 Peter 1:2 (e) — Grace and Peace”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
— Romans 15:13
If you look at any United States coin, written on the front are the words, “In God We Trust.” Over the years I have come to marvel at the implications of what it means to trust in God.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he ties together trust, hope, joy, and peace. All this is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without God, we do not have access to that power.
So what? So what if we don’t have trust?
Continue reading “Affirmation Monday – In God We Trust”
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
When do you need God’s peace most?
Sometimes when I am awake in the middle of the night, my mind churns over the problems of the day. Sometimes Satan seems to use these lonely times to remind me of my shortcomings. The lack of peace can be excruciating.
When I come to my senses, I remember what Jesus says in today’s verse. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
Continue reading “Peace – John 14: 27a”
Zechariah’s prophecy about Jesus and his son, John, comes to a close with this amazing stanza:
…By which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.
The imagery here is powerful. The “rising sun” coming to us from heaven is visual imagery for the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
The light from this sun shines on those here on earth living in darkness. The darkness is caused by the shadow of death. Anyone who has lost a loved one to death knows what that feels like.
Continue reading “Peace”