Wednesday, 06 August 2008

• Inner Peace Can Set You Apart

  by miss poppy
  
  

  

  
  Hebrews 4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.
  
  I just started reading an excellent book about a nun. In it, as the postulates are first educated in the ways of the convent, they are told that the goal of their lives as nuns is to achieve constant inner communion with God, an inner quiet. What struck me is the apparent implication that a person needs to be in a convent or monastery, or at least living a monastic life, for this goal to be achieved. Instead, I believe it is meant to be the goal of every Christian life.
  When the Bible tells us that there is a Sabbath-rest for God's people, I believe it means a constant, unending rest in God's presence that is available to us. Hebrews 4:10 goes on to say, for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.

  This promise means that we do not have to spend our lives striving and feeling harried. We can have inner peace in every situation, not derived from our own inner strength, for that will always fail, but instead derived from God's endless well of peace and rest. God's rest has nothing to do with outward circumstances or level of activity. Instead it comes entirely from within; however, as it comes out of us, it does have the ability to touch the frantic lives of people around us.
  

  
  When we talk about people seeing Christians and noticing that we are different somehow from other people, of course there are things like lifestyle choices that set us apart. But I believe inner peace can be one of the most poignant ways we show our faith to others.
  
  Do we lose our temper when we're at work and someone leaves us on hold too long or fails to deliver on something they promised? Do we freak out over school assignments to the point of physical illness or mental strain? When we're with others, are we secure, or do we constantly compare our attractiveness, smartness, etc.? Inner peace changes our orientation and stops us stressing over these things because they are in God's hands, not ours. When He flows through us, His responses come out of us, not the responses of our flesh.
  
  Inner peace is not inactive. It's not about disappearing into oneness with all things. No, it's wildly exciting! It's about communing with the King of Kings and feeling His wonderful life flow through us. At times we may be constrained to do exciting, adventurous things. At other times we may be called to sit quiet and simply enjoy Him. But we will always be free from striving, free from fear that our efforts will not be enough. We will be at rest in Him, even as we do His work.
  
  For me, the biggest obstacle to resting in God is trust. As those walls come down, I am more and more able to accept the rest He graciously offers as I commune with Him. It's hard, even impossible, to rest in someone I don't fully trust or fully believe is a comfortable place to rest. I now know that He is absolute comfort and absolute peace, the place I always most want to be. I am not always perfectly in God's rest as of yet, but I don't worry too much about it. I know He's bringing me there each day.
  
  Do you have inner peace? How do you experience God's rest in your life?

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