January 22
Mercy unto you, and peace and love, be multiplied. Jude 1:2.
“The peace of Christ is not a boisterous, untamable element made manifest in loud voices and bodily exercises. The peace of Christ is an intelligent peace, and it does not make those who possess it bear the marks of fanaticism and extravagance. It is not a rambling impulse but an emanation from God.
When the Saviour imparts His peace to the soul, the heart will be in perfect harmony with the Word of God, for the Spirit and the Word agree. The Lord honors His Word in all His dealings with men. It is His own will, His Own Voice, that is revealed to men, and He has no new will, no new truth, aside from His Word, to unfold to His children. If you have a wonderful experience that is not in harmony with expressed directions of God’s Word, you may well doubt it, for its origin is not from above. The peace of Christ comes through the knowledge of Jesus Whom the Bible reveals.
If happiness is drawn from outside sources and not from the Divine Fount, it will be as changeable as varying circumstances can make it; but the peace of Christ is a constant and abiding peace. It does not depend on any circumstance in life, on the amount of worldly goods, or the number of earthly friends. Christ is the fountain of living waters, and happiness and peace drawn from Him will never fail, for He is a well-spring of life. Those who trust in Him can say: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Ps. 85:10.
If… you have the sacred peace of Christ in your heart, your lips will be filled with praise and thanksgiving to God. Your prayers, the discharge of your duty, your benevolence, your self-denial, will not be the theme of your thought or conversation, but you will magnify Him who gave Himself for you when you were yet a sinner.
God’s people should realize that it is now their solemn duty to multiply the peace of Christ throughout the entire planet; that the effects of righteousness and peace may be clearly seen.
Let every teacher who accepts the responsibility of educating… examine himself, and study critically from cause to effect. Has the truth of God taken possession of my soul? Has the wisdom which cometh from Jesus Christ, which is first “pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” been brought into my character? While I stand in the responsible position of an educator, do I cherish the principle that “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace”?
SOURCE REFERENCES
FW 87.4, FW 88.1-2, FW 87.3, The Leviticus of D.S.D.A. 59