How are you? How has life been these days?
Have you been anxious about your circumstances? Have you been worried about all the uncertainties of your life?
This past week, Paul exhorted us to not be anxious about anything. That’s right. We don’t need to be anxious about ANYTHING. How is this possible?
The key is that Paul exhorts us to let our requests be made known to God with thanksgiving. We are to thank God before we even know His answers to our prayers. We can thank Him whether He answers them in the way we want or not.
As a result, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Do you think that God is anxious about His circumstances? Do you think He is worried about the future? Not at all. Why? It’s because He is God, and He is the God of Peace. Peace finds its source and origin in God.
Paul says that we can have the peace that God has. We can have the peace that finds its source in Him. How? It’s because we have God. That is how we are able to not be anxious anymore. We know that we have God, a God who is in control and a God who is good. He is for us and not against us. He is with us.
That is how in prayer we are able to receive the peace of God. In prayer, we surrender our hearts and our burdens to Him. In prayer, we trust Him with every detail of our lives. That is why we can still give thanks, no matter the outcome.
The only way prayer becomes the instrument of God’s peace in our lives is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can receive the peace of God, because Christ on the cross received the wrath of God. We can have the peace of God, because Christ has given us peace with God.
The cross is the only antidote for our anxiety. Our anxiety is rooted in the doubt that God is in control and that God is good. Well, the cross is the greatest expression of the God who is in control and the God who is good.
No matter the outcome, we know that God is not judging us for our sins, because Christ has received the full judgment for us. We know that God has not stopped loving us, because, on the cross, we see His full and eternal love displayed.
May the cross be the foundation for us. May the cross drive us to pray in surrender. May the cross give us the peace that we so desperately long for.
Come out to Friday Night Study @7:30pm and feed your soul. If not, see you on Sunday for our Lord’s Day worship.
In Christ,
Pastor Tim
Image source: http://www.davidmansaray.com