Seize the Moment – Day 913
Don’t Miss Opportunities for Peace!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, September 16.
Are you missing opportunities for peace? One of the most damaging things we do to our peace of mind, and relational well-being, is impute wrong motives onto people – we read into people’s words, and we judge them because we presume to know their motives. If you do this, you are projecting the anxiety and fear of your own mind and heart onto others.
If you find yourself frequently in hostilities with others, whether real or perceived, it’s because you are losing on the battlefield of your own mind. When you are expending energy on an internal war, how do you expect to have the energy to “be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50; cf. Romans 12:18). That is exactly what we see happening in 1 Chronicles 19:1-3:
Now it came about after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son became king in his place. Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to console him. But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David is honoring your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?”
Nahash imputed evil motives on David’s peaceful actions, and, in doing so, missed an opportunity for peace. You don’t have to make the same mistake!
Seize the moment and invite the Holy Spirit to guard your heart and mind with the peace of Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:6-7). Peace with others flows from peace with yourself, both of which are made possible by letting “the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15-17).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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