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"Peace
at the Center"
A
reporter asked the late President Herbert Hoover,
“Mr. President, how do you handle criticism?
Do you ever get agitated or tense?”
“No,”
President Hoover replied, seemingly surprised at
the question, “of course not.”
“But,”
the reporter went on, “when I was a boy you were one
of the most popular men in the world.
Then, for a while you became one of the most
unpopular, with nearly everyone against you.
Didn’t any of this meanness and criticism
ever get under your skin?”
“No,
I knew when I went into politics what I might expect,
so when it came I wasn’t disappointed or upset,”
he said. He
lowered his familiar bushy eyebrows and looked
directly into the reporter’s eyes.
“Besides,” he added, “I
have peace at the center, you know.”
This
“peace at the center” is one of the
greatest blessings of the Christian life. The Apostle
Paul wrote of this peace; he called it: “the
peace of God which surpasses all
understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
Because
of sin, we are enemies of
God, who is pure, righteous and holy.
James stated: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that
friendship with the world [i.e., with the worldly,
sinful things of the world] is enmity with God?
Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4).
The most wonderful news of all, however, is that
because of His love for us, "while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we may be
reconciled to God (Romans 5:10).
On the cross, Jesus paid the price for our
sin, making available the means to be
reconciled to God.
We are reconciled to God through Christ when
by faith (Hebrews
11:6),
we repent of our
sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Christ before men (Romans 10:9-10) and
are baptized into Christ for the remission
of our sins (Acts 2:38).
Having accepted the terms
of peace, we
may rejoice in our reconciliation with God through
Christ! "Therefore,
having been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
Once
we have made peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, THEN we are able
to have peace with others
and peace within ourselves,
even in the most difficult circumstances.
Jesus said, “These things
I have spoken to you, that IN ME you may have
peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be
of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John
16:33).
Edward H. Bickersteth summarized beautifully the
wonderful peace that is found in Christ with these
words:
Peace,
perfect peace, in this dark world of sin:
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
Do
you have that “peace at the
center” that comes through Christ?
God
bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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