DEVOTIONAL FOR TUESDAY OCTOBER 1ST
Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Peace”
Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1
Our thought for today: “There can be no true and lasting peace until we are at peace with God.”
Peace. Isn’t that what we all really want? Forty-two years ago as a young wannabe hippie I actually had a red white and blue peace sign tattooed on my left arm. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Those were the days when everyone in my generation was singing John Lennon’s song “Give peace a chance”. “All we are saying … is give peace a chance ….” It was fashionable and my new tattoo was thought to be very cool.
We really do want peace though, don’t we? We desire peace on earth – we wish the wars would stop. We want peace in our workplaces – it’s an unpleasant experience to spend 40 hours a week with people we don’t like and can’t get along with. We want peace in our homes – we really don’t want to fight and quarrel with our spouses and children. But more than that, we long for peace in our own hearts – we’re so tired of the internal conflict and the sleepless nights.
But there will be no real peace, no lasting peace, until we have peace with God. We have to have peace within ourselves before we’re really going to be at peace with anyone else. That internal peace has to come from God, that’s where it starts and that’s what Paul was writing about in Romans 5:1 “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
My favorite evangelistic tract of all time is Billy Graham’s “Steps to peace with God”. The pamphlet is really just a standard presentation of the plan of salvation but the title is so great that it captures the attention: “Steps to peace with God.” That’s what we all need and that’s what we all want. Once we’re at peace with God, and once the peace of God is at work within us, then we’re ready to start being at peace with others, and with the world.
Throughout this month we’re going to explore the theme of “peace”. We’ll approach it from many different angles and consider numerous applications and implications of it. I look forward to exploring it with you.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 