Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Resurrection Peace
(Colossians 3:15-17)
Seeking “those things which are above” (3:1) by fully identifying with Christ in His death and resurrection (3:3, 4) provides the believer with wonderful benefits! Among these benefits is peace. And not just any peace (John 14:27), but heart-felt, fully-reigning peace—peace that takes control of every emotion, every situation.
The peace of Christ should “rule” in our hearts (15). In other words, it should control our hearts, subduing fear, nervousness, and conflict. God’s peace calms troubled relationships and promotes thankfulness in the midst of calamity. And in this effort, peace has a partner —the “word of Christ,” the Bible (16). You see, God’s word gives rationale for our peace. When we saturate our minds with thoughts of God, meditate upon God’s attributes, and claim God’s promises, peace can prosper in our hearts.
And peace based upon Biblical truth can so fill the heart as to burst forth in song (16)! Some of the most powerful and edifying hymns of the church have come from the crucible of sorrow—and the hymnist’s experience of God’s perfect peace. The glorious anthem It Is Well with My Soul was born of a heart bereaved of wife and children in a terrible nautical accident. In deep sorrow for his loss, the hymnist testified that “peace like a river” came even as “sorrows like sea-billows” rolled. Peace and Scriptural thinking intent upon heaven produced a song that has comforted untold millions in their grief. You see, the “peace that passeth understanding” also gives a song—a heart-felt anthem of praise in even the most heart-rending moments of life.
