Living in peace, that is what we all crave today, don’t we?
To have peace instead of all the violence and to have peace instead of all the debating
and drama. To be able to start each day knowing that everything is going to be
okay, knowing that the weight of the world is not on our shoulders. We pray for
peace in this world today but have turmoil going on inside of us. Praying for
peace is a great thing to do and I am not saying to stop that, but I believe
that real peace starts on the inside of each and every one of us. We all crave that peace that surpasses all
understanding when we are in a storm.
This time of year, has great importance in this quest for
peace. We are about to celebrate all that Jesus did for us on the cross. When
Jesus went to the cross, He did so for everyone on the earth, but He was a game
changer for all who would believe and place their trust in Him. All the hype
about Easter with bunnies and eggs can be a distraction to keep our focus from
the importance of this season. I am not saying that celebrating Easter is bad
because it is a fun time for kids and families to gather and enjoy. We just
need to take time to remember the importance of the season and what brought the
celebration about in the first place.
When Jesus went to the cross He said, “It is finished!” and
He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. (John 19:30) At that moment, Jesus had
finished all that He came to earth to do and that was to reconcile us back to
God. Everything that God does is intentional and with a purpose because with
the resurrection of Jesus on the third day, all was complete. Jesus had claimed
us back as His and with that, we can now live in the kingdom of God. Many don’t
understand the concept of living in the kingdom of God, but Jesus references it
over and over again in His teachings. We have a choice of where we are going to
live from because Jesus tells us there is an option when He says, “My kingdom
is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would
be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My
kingdom is not of this realm”. (John 18:36) What does Jesus mean when He says, “Not
of this realm”? It seems that there is so much more than we can currently see,
and I think we forget about that or maybe never knew it. Jesus was mocked and
beaten here on this earth because of His message about a better life for us.
Let’s not continue this cycle and find out what Jesus was really talking about when
He said that His kingdom is not of this realm. Remember that everything God
does is intentional and has a purpose, so Jesus’ statement cannot be ignored.
Ephesians 1:3-5 NASB
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In
love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
These verses show us that God’s intention from the very beginning
was to have us as His children, holy and blameless before Him, and to give us access
to every spiritual blessing He has through Jesus because of His loving grace. We
now have access, in the spiritual realm, to all God’s blessings because of Jesus and our part is to believe
and receive it. Things may not always look great in this physical world around
us, but we know that we have access to the finished works of Jesus which include every blessing we will need in this life we are living here and now.
Now that is something to
celebrate during this season!
