3 Things for the New Year Part 1

I have seen a lot of memes these days of the uncertainty of 2021. I saw one of people hiding behind a corner slowly pushing open the door to 2021 with a long broom stick, very cautious and concerned about what may pop out of the door of the next year. I thought it was kind of funny but I think it shows where a lot of people are at these days. Fear, uncertainty seem to rule the day all around us. Who knows what is going to happen, but I was praying the other day and I felt an impression to look at John 20:21.  

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” John 20:21 

As I began to meditate on this verse some things began to stick out to me that I felt are timely for us today.  Jesus is making this statement in the first meeting that he had with the disciples after he was resurrected from the dead. So the disciples were in a place where they were hiding. They were concerned for their lives because their leader had just been killed by the rulers of their people. They were afraid that they were next. It was a time of confusion, they had to be processing all that had happened leading up to him dying and all that he had said about his death. Maybe you can relate, there sure seems to be a lot of fear and confusion going on in the world. So for the first three weeks of 2021 we are going to look at 3 things that I believe God is saying to us today out of this passage. 

The first thing Jesus does when he shows up is speaks Peace to them. 

Peace is not given to the circumstances around us. Peace is not the absence of drama but the state of being you have in spite of the circumstances. I like how Philippians calls it the peace that passes all understanding. The world that we live in is our understanding: what we see, hear, and feel is our level of understanding; but the peace of God surpasses all of that. He spoke peace to their situation where they were lost, confused, and being hunted. He didn't just say this for the disciples in the moment they were in but he spoke "peace to you" to release that word for all eternity. He knew that when he spoke that it would carry weight today in the midst of what we have experienced this last year. When he spoke that word it was something that we could hold onto, that our faith would be stirred to believe him no matter what. This peace is not to have our problems go away or to have the uncomfortable things in our lives quiet down. This peace anchors our hearts to Him so that what goes on around us has no effect on us. I think about a light house out in the middle of the raging seas. Those waves are in turmoil all around it and yet that light stays unmoved, broadcasting it's light for all to see. As I picture that I begin to hear the verse of that old hymn:

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot

Thou hast taught me to say

IT IS WELL, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

This is a perfect picture of peace. It stands no matter what the waves of life are doing, it stands and quiets our emotions. Did you know that peace is also an emotion. So much of the world today is driven by their emotions, we let our emotions run our lives whether it is anger, fear, rejection, depression, stress. In Philippians 4:6 it starts with the command to be anxious for nothing. Anxiety is an emotion, and it has effects on our bodies. Here's the great thing, we have been redeemed out of those emotions. When Jesus bought our salvation on the cross, he also redeemed us from the emotions of fallen man. It would be completely unjust of Jesus to say to us that we are to be anxious about nothing if He did not provide the way to live in that perfect peace. Because Jesus sanctified our emotions on the cross, we can live free from these destructive emotions. That is why we can now say that no matter what: IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL!

 That hymn above was written by a man named Horatio Spafford, he was a lawyer in Chicago who had been ruined financially due to the great Chicago fire in 1871. He was preparing to take his whole family to England to help with the D.L. Moody meetings, when some business issues came up that he had to attend to, so he sent his family ahead. As they were traveling across the Atlantic their ship was struck by another ship and sank. His wife survived but he lost his 4 daughters, and on his way over to meet his grieving wife he passed by the area where all his girls drowned and penned that hymn. As a father I could not imagine losing one of my sons, let alone all of my children, but in spite of it all he able to look to the Father and declare His goodness and His peace. 

It is a beautiful display of the verse from Isaiah 26:3 

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.  

Keep your mind stayed on Him and He will keep you in His perfect peace!!