Bring On the Peace and Joy!

I wasn’t feeling particularly ungrateful in this season of my life.  I have learned over time to find joy and contentment in all that life brings, and I trust God on a daily basis.  But maybe we never fully recognize our own soul issues . . . and gratitude is a soul issue.  At any rate, God has chosen in this, my 55^th year of kingdom life, to keep bringing the concept of thankfulness to my attention – through two of our three women’s Bible studies in the last year, as well as a book I’m currently reading quite by accident.  OK, Lord, I’m listening!

Of course, this isn’t new territory.  But it’s one of those things that we need constant reminding about – because life has a way of destroying thankfulness when we aren’t diligently pursuing it.  We know we are supposed to give thanks in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18), but we aren’t sure the writer of that Scripture fully understood the “everything” we are experiencing!  I am encouraged when I remember that learning and practice aren’t negative responses, but rather valuable parts of the process.  Thanksgiving is not a natural response in fallen man; it must be learned over time, and practice makes perfect!

So here are some random yet connected thoughts that God has been re-teaching me in the past few months:

• Thanksgiving, peace, and joy are all interrelated.
• According to Philippians 4:6-7, thanksgiving activates peace, and the cure for anxiety is thankful prayer.  An ungrateful heart = an anxious heart without peace. 
• The way into God’s presence, which is where joy resides, is thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4).
• Producing peace and joy in my life isn’t my job, but choosing thanksgiving is.  God is in charge of giving me peace and joy – they are fruits of the Spirit’s work in my life when I choose to trust and be thankful.

 
I can’t say I didn’t know these things already; but most of us need reminding now and then.  Maybe I needed to remember that these truths aren’t just for the hardest parts of life.  Thanksgiving needs to be a way of life that we pursue EVERY day – not just on the hard days, but even on the routine, mundane ones.  The more we practice giving thanks when life is easy, the more natural it will be to give thanks when life is hard – because our hearts will have learned to see God’s hand in every part of our lives. 

As Job taught us, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b).  My new resolve is to make sure I am choosing EVERY DAY to look for things to thank God for! 

Freedom Can Be Messy

I’ve written about freedom before, and I don’t intend to make this a political post.  But at least once a year, if not more often, we are reminded that our country was founded on the ideal of freedom and a government that operates on the principle of democracy.  But the world has changed drastically since our founding fathers declared their independence and then drafted laws to regulate their new nation.  That’s why there have been 27 amendments in the 242 years that America has existed as a nation.

Many of these changes to the original Constitution have been good ideas for all humans and therefore are not really debatable.  But many of our early laws have become extremely difficult to interpret in light of a changed culture; and so we have had numerous Supreme Court decisions to clarify how freedom should work in the 21^st century.  But it feels like the concept of freedom is becoming harder and harder to figure out – and the fallacy of freedom is that it can’t be completely practiced by all without someone’s toes getting stepped on.

A recent Supreme Court decision regarding the right of a business owner to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple is a perfect example.  While the couple felt slighted by the owner who didn’t uphold his state’s anti-discrimination law when he refused service, the Court ruled that the owner’s First Amendment rights had been violated because the state court showed “hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs motivating his objection”.  The Court also felt that the artistic expression used in creating a cake represented the owner’s right of free speech.  This is just one example of how freedom can be confusing and difficult to interpret and live out.  Each of the parties involved had their rights violated by the other.

My husband and I recently went to an appointment with a new doctor, and I was once again reminded that freedom can be messy.  This seasoned physician probably has a lot of medical knowledge and has probably helped countless people since beginning his career decades ago.  But his bedside manner could use some work.  During the course of the short appointment, we were subjected to numerous swear words used for emphasis in his conversation.  I was offended simply because I don’t expect to hear that kind of language in a doctor’s office.  The physician’s right to free speech stepped on my expectation of appropriate behavior at a doctor’s appointment.

What about the recent incident with White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and her family at a restaurant?  They were asked to leave because the owner didn’t agree with their political views.  There has been a social media uproar; but, at the core, is this any different than our acceptance for years of “no shirts, no shoes, no service” signs posted on restaurant windows?  It somehow seems worse – but both are examples of the struggles between my exercise of freedom and yours.

Here’s what I think is missing in our country today: we have lost sight of the importance of the Bible’s words in guiding our actions.  We’re so busy fighting for our own “rights” that we have forgotten that freedom is supposed to be for everyone – not just for those who agree with our viewpoint.  And sometimes we Christians are the worst offenders.

But Christians in America have a unique opportunity: our national freedom, combined with our spiritual freedom, gives us the ability/responsibility to practice showing preference to others instead of always looking out for our own interests – modeling our attitudes and behavior after the example of Jesus (Philippians 2:3-5), who taught us that it is better to be last than to be first (Mark 9:35).  As the apostle Paul pointed out in Galatians 5:13, the proper use of freedom has nothing to do with our own indulgence; instead, it is all about lovingly serving others.

 
Yes, freedom can be messy and difficult for everyone involved.  But it is still better than the alternatives – as long as we strive to love and serve each other and to remember that our exercise of individual freedoms affects everyone our lives touch, not just ourselves.  No one is an island.