Love Peace
by Bill McLeod
According to this text I am to love peace. Please note Zechariah 8:16, "These are the things that you shall do; speak every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates." We cannot speak or execute what we do not know or feel ourselves. It is delightful to be with some Christians because it is always a benediction. You sense that they are at peace with God and man. To be with other Christians is distressing because they continually run others down and complain (in a sanctified manner of course) about their lot in life.
The revival message first of all gives men a great and burning love for the Word of God. Secondly it gives them a tremendous peace. Sins are ALL gone – washed away in that fountain that Zechariah said would be opened for sin and uncleanness Zechariah 13:1. What a blessing it is when my sins are openly confessed to God (and where necessary to man!) and forsaken. I prayed with a dear brother who had opened his heart to God in a truly remarkable manner. He had confessed all his sins and was crying to God to end the power of the self life. In the middle of his prayer he suddenly cried out and said, "O, what peace. What peace!: We sing, "When peace like a river at tendeth my way…" In Isaiah 66:12 the Lord said that He would extend peace like a river. I was once lying on my stomach beside the great Churchill River in northern Canada. The river was quiet but there was as strong current. From time to time tiny whirlpools would appear and disappear without a sound. The line of that hymn flashed through my mind…"peace, peace, wonderful peace, flowing down from my Father above.." Isaiah said, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." Satan's business partly is to unnerve us by sudden attacks. One moment we have peace and the next we are fretting and worrying just like any worldling.
Our God has been called "the very God of peace" in I Thessalonians 5:23. He is called "the God of peace" in Hebrews 13:20 and Romans 15:33. Peter ends his first epistle with, "peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus." There will always be tension in my life until I end the inner conflict by submitting myself to the cross of Christ. "Let me lose my life and find it Lord, in Thee. May my friends see only Christ the love in me. Though it cost me grief and pain; I shall find my life again. If I lose my life I'll find it, Lord in Thee." O what peace comes when the old man dies and the new man takes over. Truth becomes my main pursuit and peace my daily experience.
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