Is peace evading you? Do you wonder what it will take for you to finally find peace? What have you been doing in your pursuit of peace? Have you been pursuing peace? Or have you simply been wishing for it to appear?
Peace doesn’t simply drop in on us. Oh, we might experience it for a short period of time by pure happenstance. But long-lasting peace doesn’t come to us by accident. We must take an active part in acquiring the peace we desire.
Is acquiring peace difficult? Yes. Why? We must give up being the person we’ve come to be as we have been influenced by this world. Paul compiles a list of eight Scriptures into a single quote as he provides reasons for the lack of peace. Notice the first reason he provides is our lack of seeking God. To seek God is not passive attendance at Sunday morning worship services. It requires us to actively go about following God’s commands.
Paul goes on to say we are not doing good, our speech is despicable, and we purposely seek to cause ruin for others. We deal in misery rather than love, grace, and mercy. Can we, in good conscience, really wonder why we have no peace?
Actively seeking peace is difficult, but only because we must give up being like the world. As we seek to follow God’s commands, seek to be more like Jesus, we will find peace. Asking the Holy Spirit to rule our life rather than the way of the world means giving up our broken selves and be made whole.
I pray we all seek to follow God’s commands. I pray we give up the way of the world. I pray each one of us will allow the Holy Spirit to rule our lives, demonstrating love, grace, and mercy. Seek God. Allow the Holy Spirit to rule. Give up your old life. Be more like Jesus. Find the peace you desire.
Romans 3:10b-18
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Marty Pressey 