“THEREFORE BE imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].” Ephesians 5:1
So imitating God… In addition to the characteristic of love (which we looked at in the last post), what else is implied here? What else do we know about the “person” of God? The next thing that comes to my mind is peace. And I would go a step further and say that peace goes hand in hand with stability.
This is perhaps my biggest area of struggle - maintaining peace and stability. Why is it so difficult?? We are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. Everything around us screams stress and negativity, but Christ said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
So here (and also in Galatians where it is listed as a fruit of the Spirit which lives on the inside of every believer) we see that saying, “I just don’t have peace” is not a valid excuse. In fact it is a lie from Satan that he wants us to believe so we can convince ourselves that it is not our fault when we lose our peace.
We all have it, but it is our responsibility to fight to maintain it and operate in it. You can’t just expect peace to follow you. You have a job to do.
“Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]” 1 Peter 3:11 (AMP)
In the gospels alone (in the NKJV) peace is mentioned 26 times! Must be important to the way we should live our lives. Begin to grasp the importance of peace and choice to fight for it! In our next post we’ll talk about practical ways to pursue, go after and fight for peace.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will[a] have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
