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Peace With Me
Not so. I try to read anything that comes my way, books, people, me. Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust. Heard some good things about it. Haven’t read many French novelists. I had to put it down after about a hundred pages. All he ever talked about was himself and he never did anything. He wrote about what he wore, what he ate, how his boyhood room looked! I mean, he never did anything! And his folks were rich! If I were him I’d have it made! But did he have it made? No, he was miserable! Go figure. Maybe it’s not just our relationship with God and the world that needs work. Maybe I need Peace with Me 1.Jesus ends all doubt (15-16a). 2.Jesus purifies believers’ souls (16b-18). The people of Jesus’ day were caught by doubt. “The people were awaiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie (15-16a).’” Doubt. Everybody has it. “What did Mrs. Nielsen say?” one classmate whispers to another. You want to get the directions right and it’s easy to miss your turn if you are talking to your neighbor. You want to be sure. “Are we getting real Christmas bonuses this year or just another turkey from Smiths?” your office buddies might be wondering. They want to be sure before they plan the next trip to the mall and find out only later that they’re spending what they don’t have. The bigger the decision—car, house, spouse--the bigger the doubt. And when you are wondering if the way to heaven is really through Jesus or not, or maybe some other god is the ticket, well, there’s lots of doubt. You can always return the Christmas purchases, but when it comes to our eternal destiny, who would want to make a wrong decision there? That’s what the people coming to John the Baptist were thinking. John clearly tells them he isn’t the Savior, but the Savior is coming. As big and important as John is in the eyes of many, he wasn’t even good enough to untie the Savior’s shoes. When the Savior comes, you’ll know him. Isn’t there the same doubt in our minds today? Every day we are faced with choices. Some choices are automatic. Go to work to get paid. Pay the mortgage. Pay the car loan and insurance. Some choices are anything but automatic. Spend time with the family or go golfing. Watch Thursday’s football game or hit the mall to look for a Christmas gift for the little woman. But the biggest choice is this: Should I take Jesus seriously in my life or should I treat him like a magazine subscription, something I shell out a few bucks for and once in a while look at, but mostly I’m busy with other stuff? Like most choices, there’s loads of bad information that mucks up the picture. We look at others who claim to take Jesus seriously and they either act like Bible-bangers or they act like they were baptized with botox so that their facial muscles have been frozen into that martyrdom grimace and smiling, much less enjoying any bit of life twenty feet from a Bible, would shatter their face. If I get serious about Jesus does it mean I have to drag a wooden cross down Freemont Street past that Lutheran pastor and his wife who are singing along and wondering why in the world Boogie Nights don’t just chuck their so-so disco sets and focus on their killer rock n’ roll numbers? Oh, oh, ooooh. Jesus puts an end to all doubt. It is not an either/or situation. His words deserve, not only a hearing, but the driver’s seat in our lives. Taking Jesus seriously is going to mean a better life, already here on earth, as we know who we are, what we are here for and where we’re going. To avoid a world of trouble, to embrace a world of being connected with others. But most of all, to be able to say inside ourselves that we have found the real deal and Jesus is it. He loves me as I am and he promises not to make me into someone else. He promises to make me into the me I was created to be and to give me the life he created this world to give me, rather than the fake lives I see in both some church people and in some gutter dwellers. That will bring peace with me. Jesus ends all doubt. He also purifies believers’ souls. John continues, “‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them (16b-18).” John the Baptist describes Jesus’ work on the inside of a person. He purifies our souls. That’s the baptism Jesus brings, a baptism of faith, a baptism of the Holy Spirit, a baptism of fire. Heat kills germs. In the hospitals they scald surgical instruments in super-hot steam so not a living thing on that scalpel or retractor could infect the next patient. Fire burns out the impurities in making precious metals, like gold or silver. Once it goes through the forge, mommy’s pretty new gold necklace from daddy has no sand or dirt in it. It’s not the glistening, sterile surgical instruments that trouble me. It’s not wondering what’s the difference between this 14 or this 22 carat gold necklace I’m looking at in my buddy, Fred’s jewelry case. It’s the spiritual dirt in me that makes me wonder, that gives me no peace. It’s that darker side of me that makes me toss and turn, worrying it is going to infect and undo everything I think, do and say. It isn’t just me this happens to. John mentions it in his letter. “If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything (1 John 3.20).” Maybe he was remembering Jesus and Peter talking. While Jesus was on trial, Peter had denied that he had ever known Jesus three times—the exact number of times Jesus had predicted. After Jesus rose from the dead, he asked Peter three times if Peter loved him. How could Peter miss the point? And he felt horrible, even though Jesus had risen from the dead and things were better than before. Peter still found no peace in himself. No peace with me. And Jesus asks him “Do you love me?” the third time. Finally Peter gives up on himself. “Lord, you know all things, you know I love you.” And suddenly the weight was lifted, and Peter could be the old Peter again, the leader of the disciples, but better than the old Peter. Losing sleep over what you’ve done? Everything going so well in your life, but nobody’s told you yet? Killing yourself to make every plan come true, meet every schedule, be Mr. or Mrs. Everything for everybody? It’s not just in golf that a forced swing ruins the game. Let Jesus burn away the stains from that darker side of us so that we are convinced we are the pure wheat John is talking about, treasured by God, preserved for eternal life. That’s the way I can find peace with me. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Rev.Don Pieper is a minister in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. He has devoted his life to sharing the Gospel of Christ to all of Gods people. For more information about the Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church visit us at www.gvelc.com or call 702-454-8979 . Ask for Pastor Don or Pastor Matt. |
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