XV_Shalom

XV

Shalom

‘Peace be with you’ he said’ John 20v19

A friend told me the other day of how he and his wife had felt a call from God to move house, uproot, leave their jobs and travel to a new place and devote their lives to a particular mission.
‘We don’t know where we’re going to live...when or how we’re going to do it and what we’re going to do for work...but we know it’s right and we really have peace about it’ he said.
Had I been in his position I may have been panicking...like mad! But, the more I thought about it, the more I knew recognised what he was talking about. It was more than a ‘feeling’ he was describing, but it’s the best word I can use to describe it - from when I have ‘felt’ it.
It’s like a sensation you carry around with you when you know you’re in what God wants you to be in. You’re doing what God wants you to be doing...and despite what’s going on around you or in your life...no matter how many questions or worries you have...you’re ok...because God is in control.
All throughout the scriptures there’s this recognition that there are so many things in our lives that push in exactly the opposite direction to this. Things that unsettle us, intimidate us, and cause us to hide or lose faith. Our work, our jobs, our relationships, the expectations others have on us, those we have on ourselves, the situation we’ve just come from, the circumstances we’re in right now, our futures...
What did my friend have that gave him such peace?
He had Shalom ...the peace of God.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples in John 20 v19 after his crucifixion the first thing he said was ‘Peace be with you’. These disciples were hiding, afraid, uncertain of what lay ahead...and what happened? Jesus appeared among them and said ‘be at peace’. Know the Shalom of God. Know His peace in the midst of all your worries, all your fear, all your anxiety, all your uncertainty. I am here...have peace.
This peace, this Shalom of God comes with the assurance that He is truly in charge. Think what a difference it made to that fearful group of men...what strength and courage it gave them...
Paul told the church Philippi (4 v6) ‘don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything, tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done...then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand...His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus’.
We serve a God who can turn the landscape of our hearts, whatever it may be like at this moment, into an image like the picture above - calm, settled and at peace. Wherever we are today, Jesus desperately wants us to look him in the eyes and hear him say ‘it’s ok...be at peace...I’m in control’.

XV_Zoom

XV
Zoom

‘There is one thing worth being concerned about – Mary has discovered it’ Luke 10:38

Why are we rushing around so much???!!!
Sorry, I’ll start again. In Ecclesiastes 3 the writer tells us that there is a time for everything, sleeping, waking, working, resting, living...dying! I feel after the week I’ve had, that had I written Ecclesiastes 3, I would have said something like...’a time for work, a time for always saying yes and never saying no, a time for rushing, a time for just doing a bit more...a time for worrying about the bit I didn’t do...’
So much of our time is spent zooming around at brake neck speed trying to ‘get it all done’. Whatever it is.
I was thinking the other day that often the things I’m rushing around trying to get done are actually good things. Seeing a mate, trying to be good at my job, calling up an old friend, helping at church, or the youth group, or at home...etc. Now this is not to say that I don’t have a multitude of selfish, lazy and egocentric moments. But I think what is clear is that we can be ‘well intentioned’...and yet still miss the mark...
The cars in the picture at the top are going quick, really quick! By some trickery of modern photography we’ve got this image of trailing lights, going at such a pace...we can’t actually distinguish one car from the next, or what’s really going on. Everyone rushing in a flurry of activity, zooming past , no time to stop.
Psalm 46 v10 says very plainly...’ be still and know that I am God’...
Be still
I don’t do still very well; if I have a personal record for time spent in solitary, silent meditation and prayer it must be in single figures. Still, when I think about it...I have to admit, it’s not actually the ‘being still’ bit that is to blame for this...it’s me. I’ve made a life so busy with detail that to stop and be still with God is actually a really hard thing to do.
Jesus knew that taking time to be still with God, time with his Father was crucial. He did so much in his ministry, yet so many times the Gospels record Jesus taking time out to be still, to pray and be with God. This was a way of living in tune with God and not the world. While Jesus was at the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38), Martha was rushing around, trying do the good and right thing - preparing a meal, being a good host; her sister, Mary, was just sitting with Jesus, being still, being in his presence.
Jesus didn’t deny that Martha’s ‘things’ needed to be done, nor that in some way they weren’t important. What he did do was affirm the most important thing...spending time with Him. The message to us is so simple à ‘be still and know that I am God’.
In the end there is only one real thing to be concerned about; Mary got it...have I?