Thursday, May 31, 2007
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPIRIT OF JOY AND PEACE
Real power is not in explosives or money or even in great forces of nature. None of these can warm the coldest object or soften the hardest stone. I'm talking about the heart of a sinner. Only the Spirit of God can truly warm the human heart and give us one of flesh instead of one of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). The Spirit of God does this by leading us to look to the work of Jesus as the basis of our salvation. What joy! Joy in believing. We are welcomed back, not just under God's rule, but into His Family! What peace! Peace in believing. No more futile and hopeless efforts to earn acceptance with God on the basis of our own actions.
And the Spirit not only uses the Gospel of Christ to create this faith, He uses the same wondrous Word to increase our faith -- and so also our joy and peace. The better we know Jesus, the more we appreciate what it means to be right with God. The more deeply the fact of our blood-bought forgiveness sinks into our hearts, the deeper and more pervading our joy becomes and the more our sense of peace increases. This joy is not so fragile as to be swept away by any wave of trouble, for it rests on the Rock of our salvation -- on Jesus and the everlasting peace of heart and mind His redeeming work gives us.
Finally, we know the Lord to whom we look in faith has gone to prepare a place for us in the Father's house. Our joy and peace in Christ is not just for here and now -- it's forever.
That's Hope! With a capital "H"!
Holy Ghost, with joy divine
Cheer this saddened heart of mine;
Yield a sacred, settled peace,
Let it grow and still increase.
(The Lutheran Hymnal 234:4)
