Tina Pinkoson produces our church bulletin each Sunday and she often includes some thoughtful sayings from others and sometimes humorous stories about churches and pastors. Last Sunday Tina included a number of Sentence Sermons in our bulletin, and one of them stuck with me all day Sunday. So I decided to make it my TGIF for this week.
That Sentence Sermon said – NO GOD, NO PEACE (Isaiah 57:21); KNOW GOD, KNOW PEACE (John 14:27.
I will discuss this statement in two separate pieces since they are so diametrically opposite.
No God, no peace – Isaiah 57:21 – “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Our world teaches us that love is conditional – it is based on our performance, appearance, and status. Too many people spend their life focus on “achieving success” which often means striving to have more than our neighbors, looking better than others around us, and achieving worldly status. Too often, these people are more focused on their careers than their families, and focus on moving up the corporate ladder rather than attending their children’s sporting and school events. They are often too eager to have the fanciest car in the neighborhood, or a vacation home at the beach or in the mountains, even if it means extending their family’s budget beyond their comfort zone. What matters more to these people is their appearance, or the perception they exude to others that others should strive to be like them.
Such a plan might work well for awhile for some people. They may zoom up the corporate ladder, seemingly have the perfect family, and to “have it all”. However, it is extremely difficult to maintain such a lifestyle throughout your entire life, as everyone will face hardships in their life, and such folks are not prepared for these difficult times when they unexpectedly hit. The result can often be a failed marriage, a lost job or career, and financial difficulties that can be quite severe in our life.
A mid-life crisis is defined as “an emotional crisis of identity and self-confidence that can occur in early middle age”. Many people with “no God” are very open to a “mid-life” crisis because they have no foundation to guide them when the inevitable downturn in their plan occurs, oftentimes when a career peak has been reached or an unexpected health event may occur or a spouse decides to end a relationship, especially if children are involved. There may seem to be no solution to the mid-life crisis when it is experienced. However, there is always a solution and I suggest it is the following.
Know God, know peace – John 14:27 – Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.
Instead of going it alone, find peace in your life through your relationship with God. You will never find lasting peace and happiness in your life as long as you feel you are in charge. You need a stronger foundation than you can have by yourself to get you through the difficult times that everyone will experience as they travel through their life experience.
God is our one true source of hope, peace, joy, and love in our lives. Only He can provide us the true foundation for a lifetime, one that will sustain the numerous blows we will experience throughout our life. Only He can provide the nurturing we need to not only survive in this world, but to know the promise of eternity that only He can offer and guarantee to us by believing in Him.
Romans 15:13 – Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
PS – Tina’s other Sentence Sermons last Sunday: