No Peace

2 Peter 3:14 (ESV) Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

Our purity means our peace.  We don't simply wait for the return of the Lord.  We don't idly hope for His return to the effect that our faith becomes a passive venture.  No.  We are to be diligent in our preparations for His return.  Notice, "be diligent to be found by him".

Where there is sin, there is no peace.  When David slept with Bathsheba and killed her husband and tried to cover things up.  His house knew very little peace from that moment on.  Sin put an example for his sons to follow, his kingship to be vulnerable, and his children to die.  Sin costs more than just you.  

I heard it put like this... We are made in the image of God.  That is we are made to reflect God.  Our being made in His Image means first that we are not God and second that we are representatives of Him to those in our world.  It also means that who we are is utterly and totally dependent upon HIS existence.  We are defined from without, not from within.

Everyone is reflecting what they believe God is like by how they respond to Him... in trust or unbelief.  Sin is saying God is not trust worthy, God is out to get me, God does not have my best intentions at heart.  This is the main problem with sin.  So we look, we lust, we take of that which we feel will give us what God is denying us.  

I think about the lusts that flare up in my heart.  A bigger TV!  Yes!  Do I need one?  No.  Can I afford it?  Maybe on a credit card.  If we get it - the happiness will last for a few minutes.  Then the bills.  Then it's not enough either.  What else might there be... Around and around we go.  No peace.

The opposite is trusting God.  God has my best interest in mind.  God will take care of me.  God is trustworthy and faithful.  There is nothing outside of HIs desire for me that can fulfill me and I am simply to be a reflection of HIs goodness in loving, dependent trust.  His first words to man, "I have given you every thing... except."  God dwelling with man is man depending on God in perfect peace.

Sin's most detrimental cost to you personally is lack of peace.  Why forsake your peace?  

TRUST GOD.  KNOW PEACE.

PRAYER:
Father, you are ALL! I need nothing more than what you have for me.  What do I have that you didn't give me?  What do I have that I did not receive?  Opportunities, money, jobs, everything has come from you.  Your grace.  Your decision.  Thank you.  I pray for purity and cleansing that I might learn to trust you in peace.  When my heart gets lured with the things of this world, remind me of these precious realities.  And bring me your peace.




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