Presence

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts for as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Colossians 3: 15 NIV

To be present in this day and age can be challenging. We are constantly being bombarded with all types of information all the time. We’re constantly on our phones or living a life that requires us to go full force. I know that it’s not the same everywhere in the world. I can only speak from my personal experiences. I know there are many people in the world who maybe don’t have access to phones or don’t have the same “full force” lifestyle. However, for the ones who do… do you ever feel like you’re lacking peace in your life? I know for myself I have to tell myself to take a step back sometimes to appreciate the goodness of who the Lord is.

In the verse above, Apostle Paul is speaking to the church on how they should be living. He says, “let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.” How many times do we forget to let that peace rule in our hearts? I’m the first to hold my hand up high and say “multiple times a day!” As a believer in Christ we are given that peace of knowing God, but is He actually ruling in our hearts? What does that look like? To be honest with you, I don’t think it looks perfectly all the time, but to me it means even in the midst of anxiety there’s a subtleness of God’s love and sovereignty that quietly speaks “everything will be okay.”

The second part of the scripture continues and says, “for as one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” So as brothers and sisters in Christ we are also called to live in peace. Is it always like that in the body of Christ ? No, like I’ve mentioned before, as humans we are messy and make mistakes. We can get triggered and have bad moods. We can gossip and try to make ourselves feel better through it and hurt others along the way, but our aim should be at having peace with everyone. As far as I can tell it’s not always easy for others and myself to have that peace, but like I mentioned before, I don’t think it’s about having that consistent peace and expecting ourselves to maintain it. I think it’s about focusing on Christ’s peace alone and letting everything else can fall into place. 

As a person who has been on a healing journey for a long time I can say that learning how to trust and love people is not easy, that’s why I understand why it’s so hard to have a consistent peace. The beautiful thing is that Christ gave Himself on the cross for us to live in eternity with Him and that should always be our focus.

Forgiving and forgiveness is not for the weak, it’s a constant everyday battle to give people the benefit of the doubt and to trust. We are humans before we are anything and God knows and sees that, but as I more forward in my life, like the picture of me moving forward caught off guard taken by a friend of mine, I must continue to focus on the love of Christ, that same love He has for you and for me to live that life of peace. 

Learning to trust God through the process of life is a constant reminder that the hardest part of life has kind of already been done if you believe in Him. Now it’s all about living that thankfulness through presence and rest in Him. 

God bless you brother or sister in christ. Have a blessed week. May Christ’s peace rule in your heart.