 |
|
| Volume 20 Number 9 September 2018 | Page 10 |
|
|
| Volume 20 Number 9 September 2018 | Page 10 |
Standard EquipmentDavid Conley
In our lives, no matter what “baggage” we carry around, no matter what “equipment” we use and no matter what “things” are necessary, the Bible should always be considered standard equipment to us! It is the only book that meets the needs of man under all conditions.
Make the Bible a part of your life. Carry it, read it, study it and live it! Don’t let the Bible become an unused, unknown, undesired thing in your life as it has become in many people’s lives today!
Aaron Cozort
Paul wrote to the assembly at Ephesus and penned six times concerning peace. He desired that they have peace (1:2). He wanted these Christians to know that the peace of God is real. It is available to a Christian, but it is not the world’s kind of peace.
The world desires to have peace, meaning a lack of struggle, a lack of war and the absence of difficulties in life. “I am at peace,” we are told when a person is calm in mind, when sitting in the right yoga pose or when breathing the right way.
Peace Is Tied Directly to
Sanctification and Faithfulness.
“To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:1-2). This understanding that our peace originates with God, and more specifically with Christ, is valid for more than Christians individually. It is true for Christians collectively as well.
Paul wrote that Jesus Christ Himself is our peace (2:14). Christ “has made both one,” the text says. Verse 15 clarifies, “so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”
Jew and Gentile were being brought together from diverse backgrounds, often with opposing worldviews, and becoming one in Christ Jesus. The blood of Christ washes the sins of humanity away and breaks down the walls of separation in this world. It makes peace.
Peace is Proclaimed
(Ephesians 2:16-18).
“…and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” Paul made it clear that Jew and Gentile will have reconciliation with God and with one another. The preaching of peace with God and the obedience to that preaching allows for reconciliation in one body. The one body is the church (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4).
Where will you find peace? Please let me offer you peace with God and man through the blood of Christ in the body of Christ, the church.