A Thought For The Week Of May 16, 2016

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15) Peace. It s the great gift God offers to his people. And it's something that all of us need, because we seem to spend so much of our time not at peace. We worry, we fret, we fear. We see that in the world around us; we see it in our own lives. Worry, fret and fear. But - we're called to be at peace.Repeatedly Jesus tells his disciples not to fear. But all too often we don't listen. I wonder if in some ways we actually like to be afraid and disturbed and not at peace? That would certainly explain the popularity of horror movies, wouldn't it? And if you think of those in the world around us who are actively trying to destroy our peace and unsettle us - I'm thinking here of terrorists - well, they know exactly what they're doing. They know that most people (and even most Christians) will have a knee jerk of reaction to their actions and to their words. They seek to destroy our peace - not in the sense of causing war, but in the sense of unsettling us and making us live as frightened and disturbed people - as Christians who forget that we are to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. It amazes and saddens me how many Christians don't live in peace, and when we don't live in peace we also miss out on the promise in the last part of this verse - that we should be thankful. You can't really be thankful if you're disturbed and living in constant fear. As Christians we need to set the example of how to navigate this often insane world, but too often the example we set is the exact opposite of what we read here. We need to remember that whatever our circumstances might be and whatever real or imagined threats there are that disturb and frighten us - God is in control, and because of that we can be at peace and we can be thankful!