“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart,” Jesus told the disciples the night before His death. “The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
—John 4:27 NLT
Peace of mind and heart! There is nothing like it. How you crave it in a world you can’t control—in thoughts, you can’t control. But it is real, and it is the greatest gift that comes when you are have been saved from sin and the regulations of the law. The law only exposed sin. It didn’t wipe it away. It didn’t heal your heart. Jesus gave His life so you can have a new life, and have it abundantly without torture or terrorizing thoughts of fear—so you can wake up rejoicing in the day ahead no matter what that day may bring.
“Christ himself has brought peace to us,” Paul told the Ephesians. “He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations” (Ephesians 2:14a,15a NLT). Why do you keep striving to be good according to the law and then feel condemned when you aren’t perfect? Does the law save you? No, only Jesus saves you. Only the Holy Spirit transforms your thoughts and renews you in the spirit of your mind! Your part is to surrender and allow Him to change you. You grow in His grace when you allow His grace to teach you what it means to be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
“Suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ,” Paul told the Galatians, “and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:17-19, NLT).
Paul said that when he tried to keep the law, it condemned him. Die to the law, and open your eyes to the freedom of His grace. No, His grace is not a license to sin. That would only make His grace cheap. But you are free to live as He instructs—not because you have to, but because you love Him and want to. He has given you the freedom to choose. If you are tired of the emotions of roller-coaster days that run rampant and fears at night you can’t control, you can choose the freedom of His grace which was greater than your sin—greater than your failure—greater than the condemnation you live under because you don’t feel good enough.
Don’t be troubled and afraid. Peace of mind and heart is yours.
© 2018 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/peace-of-mind-and-heart.html
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