Well, it’s
been a little while since I have posted on my blog. No problem.
Just took at break for a few weeks to close out the old year and get a
fresh start on 2014. I love new
beginnings. When you think about, new
beginnings are all around us. Every
year, every month, every week, every day, every hour, every minute, even this
very second can be a new beginning for you and for me. I began a series of lessons this week
entitled “The Pathway to Peace – The Pathway of Peace.” I will present two lessons to help us get on
the pathway and then a final lesson to help us stay on the pathway.
Lesson One – Let Go
Lesson Two – Let God
Lesson Three – Live and Love
Consider this
first lesson. There are things that we
must let go of if we are to have the peace, joy, and happiness that can be
ours.
We must LET GO
OF SIN in our mind. We do this when we
repent and are baptized into Christ. Take
a look at Acts 2:37-38, a few verses before and after. When those who crucified Jesus finally
realized what they had done, they were certainly sorrowful and asked Peter and
the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter commanded them to repent of their sin
and be baptized so that their sin would be remitted. Saul had his sins washed away in Acts 22:16
in baptism.
We must LET GO
OF FEAR in our heart. Fear can certainly
rob us of our peace. Fear of God, fear
of the devil, fear of death, fear of sickness, fear of losing a job, fear of
disappointing someone, fear of not being the person I need to be, fear of the
unknown…we could go on and on. We must let
go of fear if we are to get on the pathway of peace. After we repent of the sin dominates our
mind, we must realize God’s grace and mercy in our lives day in and day out and
allow Him to restore us. 1 John 1:7
tells us that if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have the
confidence that our sins are washed away.
What are we afraid of? God
promises to provide for our needs according to His will. We need to trust and obey and rely on
Him. He has never let me down and never
will. In Psalm 51:10-12, David asked God
to create a new heart clean heart and a steadfast spirit within him. He asked God to restore in him the joy of
salvation. God can and will do this for
us too when we decide to let go of our fear.
We must LET GO
OF REGRET in our conscience. The
conscience is a good thing, given to us by our Creator. Of course, a conscience must be trained to
know what is right and what is wrong. Some
people have not properly trained their conscience as is evidenced by so many in
the world today living lives that are so very frustrating, exhausting, hurtful,
and sinful. Regret can certainly rob us
of our peace. Thinking about what I should
have done, could have done, or would have done can certainly drive any of us
mad. We let go of regret when we decide
to live only today. Yesterday is
past. Tomorrow may never be. We all (Jesus excepted) have made
mistakes. We cannot remake the
past. We can however, learn and live
today better and thus make peace with ourselves and with God in His great grace
and power. Think about Simon Peter in
John 6:68 when he said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that
you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Now move forward a few days to Matthew 26:75 when the rooster crowed and
this same man had denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. Oh, the regret. He went out and wept bitterly. Now move forward a few more days to Acts
2. Who was it that lifted up his voice
to preach Jesus and Him crucified on the Day of Pentecost? Peter.
He let go of regret. You can
too. So can I.
We must also
LET GO OF WORRY in our bodies. Worry can
actually cause sickness, disease, and even death. When we let go of sin, let go of fear, let go
of regret, then letting go of worry automatically follows. If we have our sins forgiven, our fears
vanquished, and our regrets put behind us, what do we have to worry about? Nothing.
Not too long ago, I friend of mine stopped by my office to talk about an
issue he was having at night. He couldn’t
get to sleep. And when we did finally sleep,
he was restless and worried. I asked him
about the last thing he did before retiring to bed. His answer:
He watched the late night news.
No wonder he couldn’t get to sleep.
I suggested he watch the news earlier then maybe try some Bible reading
and prayer just before retiring to bed.
Later on, he came back by my office and told me “Thank you.” My recipe for a peaceful night’s sleep for
him was successful. Oh that we could let
go of what it is that is robbing us of our peace.
I’ll share
lesson two with you next week about this time.
Sorry about taking a few days of from blogging. I hope to be more faithful in sharing from
now on. I love the Lord, His word, and
His people. May God bless you and yours
in this new year with all that you need.
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