Inner Peace

visit my wife, sometimes she knows me and sometimes she doesn’t. But the point that struck me as I talked to this man and watched him was his care and affection for someone who was not the same person he had married years before. Now the rules of men say when your mate suffers

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from alzeheimer’s and needs regular nursing care, find a suitable health facility for her- that much the man had done. But obvious to me was that this man had gone beyond those rules

to a higher, divine set of laws- he would visit his wife and not abandon her; he would feed her and speak to her although she may not say a word to him. And what I am trying to say is that

when we can more and more operate within the rules and laws of God instead of my own

personal wishes and wants, there comes a far greater opportunity for inner peace to come into my heart from the Prince of Peace who is now in charge of the government of my mind and thereby controls my deeds and thoughts in spite of the circumstances of a confined alzeheimer’s

unit in a nursing home and a wife who no longer remembers me. Yes, great peace have those who love Thy law.

One more example of “loving thy law” should suffice to make my point. The other night I was attending a worship service and the speaker asked the audience to discuss this question when the audience broke up into small groups: "is it easier for you to forgive yourself or to forgive others?" In the discussion group I joined an older lady talked about her difficulty in being able to forgive her sister-in-law who had written her husband a letter and said some very mean and unkind things about him. Her husband had since died two years before with no animosity toward his sister for the letter, but his wife still could not forgive the woman for what you had said. Now the rules of man allow you to think whatever you want about a person and to hold a grudge as long as you like; but the rules of Christ especially if He is to be the Ruler of your life are quite different. The woman realized that and made the point: “I have no peace” because on this issue for whatever reason she still ruled. And as all of us know, forgiving someone who has hurt you is no easy task, just as great peace is no cheap commodity but very costly. And if we ever gain it, this inner peace from the Lord, we can lose it just as quickly as we decide to take control instead of the Master being in control.

To think of myself trying to achieve or gain this inner peace by my own efforts is as unrealistic when I was young as it is now that I am older. This inner peace is a divine gift that only Jesus Christ can give accordingly to His will and pleasure. And we do know that He wants to give every good gift to His children. And who are His children- those who belong to Him and claim Him as Lord and Savior, those who’s minds are stayed on Thee because they love His

law and know Him as Prince of Peace, the Head of the seat of government in their mind and heart not for a day or when it’s convenient to me and to my liking but for all eternity according to His will and purposes.