My Place of Peace

"He who loves

silver will not

be satisfied with silver;

Nor he who loves

abundance,

with increase.

This also is vanity."

Ecclesiastes

5:10


Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones had it right. Without Jesus, there is no satisfaction. They are only agree with Solomon, who said everything was vanity. Even if you have lots of money, or fame, or (you fill in the blank with what you think would make you happy.)

One pastor described it as the soul's "frantic search for happiness." We think, if only I had this thing or that thing, then I would be happy. But then somehow we get that thing, and in the back of our minds the nagging question remains, "Is this all there is?"

Been there, done that, too many times. It seems the more technologically advanced we are, there's less satisfaction even though we are "connected" with the whole wide world. I know of only one place I can return to to hear that still small voice of satisfaction, and it has nothing to do with what is going on around me, only on what is going on inside me. That is, I am in communion with God. Only there does my heart rest at peace. There is nowhere else I can run on this planet to receive that grace and peace.

And I can have that grace and peace anytime, anywhere, thanks to the great sacrifice Christ made to forever declare me right in God's presence. I didn't do anything to get right with God. I received it as a totally free gift. And just as I received that gift, the only way I make progress in my Christian life is not to strive to do, but again to receive it.

It is all about receiving from Him:

Colossians 2: 6-7 "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

I Cor. 4:7 "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"

John 14: 1-4 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

There is peace in these words that tell me simply that My shepherd will take care of me in this world where there really is no satisfaction apart from Him.

"The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want."

I will be satisfied when I see His face, not in this world or its many distractions:

"As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." Psalm 17:15

I determine that God will be my place of peace today and my satisfaction. When life becomes confusing, all I need do is run back to Him. For He is there, waiting for me.

Speaking of grace and peace, check out my new book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering, for stories of those who have gone before, who ran their race, and took the help God gave them through His Word to live as overcomers. It is available from 4RV Publishing.com, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com.