| The Best Things in Life |
Chapter 4 |
Page 6 |
The trouble with us is that we do not let this peace rule in us. Instead, we let a thousand other things – cares, disappointments, discontents, anxieties, fears, doubts, rule and mutiny against the rightful heart ruler. No wonder we have so little of the reign of quietness and calmness in us. If we would let peace take its place on the throne and control all our life, it would soon grow into beauty. Then joy would sing its sweet songs wherever we go.
We do not begin to realize the blessings that a heart truly controlled by the peace of God will bring into our life. We do not know the possibilities of loveliness of character there are in us, if only we would let peace dominate everything. We do not dream of the good we might do in the world, the comfort we might be to others, and the cheer and inspiration we might give to discouraged ones, those who are hard beset and those who are in sorrow, if we would let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts. We do not know how many souls we might win for Christ, how many lives we might redeem from low things and evil ways, if only the peace of Christ truly dwelt in us, transforming us into the beauty of the Lord. Nothing so wins others to better things as the influence of a sweet, disciplined and radiant personality.
Must we go on forever in the unsatisfactory way in which many of us have been living? Must we still allow our peace to be broken by every passing cloud, every fear, and every shadow? Shall we not set the peace of Christ on the throne, allowing it to arbitrate all our affairs, and to give its beauty to our disposition? We cannot understand the reason why this or that suffering, sorrow, or disappointment comes into our life. But we do not have to understand. God is wise than we, and we may leave the whole matter in his hand. That will give us peace.
“Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.”
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