Peace

There is so much over which to be stressed today.  The economy has had the slowest recovery since the Great Depression and if the cycle of recession isn't somehow detoured, we should be entering another one very soon.  Mindless, heartless and seemingly soulless radical Islamics are bombing, shooting, driving trucks into crowds with increasing frequency.  Race relations have taken a giant step backward, murder in our inner cities is stepping up, jobs are being shipped out as undocumented are sneaking in and unvetted immigrants are being slipped in.

Faith in God, pride in country and the foundation of the family are being eroded.  The Affordable Care Act has resulted in millions of Americans facing higher deductibles and co-pays with lower a decreasing amount of actual coverage.  Our political landscape remind me more of landfill.  The race for the White House has been a race to the bottom.

The genetic encoding of the Creator for gender is being rejected for a "gender du jour while the sexuality designed by God for procreation of the human race and sanctified as the act of marriage has become reduced to nothing more than a smorgasbord of choices to satiate the sexual appetite of a post-Christian populace.

We live by the clock which is sucking the life out of living as we try to juggle the increasing demands of family, jobs and community responsibilities.  Quiet time, family time, time to relax are being passed by as we race against that clock, which keeps our stress index at its peak.

Russia is on the rise, radicalism is on the offense, democracy is on the run, Christian values are under siege and the American Dream is fast becoming a pipe dream.  Religious radicals, political profiteers, race-baiting reverse bigots, capitalist cronies and socialist bloodsuckers - we have all the ingredients for a big bowl of stress stew.

And then there is "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, [which] will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:7).  In the middle of the milieu of a crazy, mixed up world in which wrong is seen as right and right is seen as wrong, where the good are often persecuted while the bad are being rewarded; we can be at peace.  You really can "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Pet 5:7).

I'm not saying it is easy.  In fact, it will take supernatural power to bring about that peace.  But that is exactly the point: the supernatural power of God is available in Christ and through His Spirit.  He will not make you embrace it but it is always available, and you can be at peace even in a tumultuous world where there is little peace afforded.  Take it to Jesus.  Let go and let God.  Jus' Say'n.