Peace and Order...

"Shut the door of your room and call Jesus, your Beloved, to you, and stay there with Him. There is no greater peace anywhere else than to be with Jesus. If you had not left your room, nor listened to gossip, you would have retained your peace, but because you crave the latest news you must, as a consequence, suffer a disordered heart." ~ Thomas a Kempis

    In the busyness of life, we often find it difficult to slow down. In society, we have been taught that slowing down is just a step above laziness and that sitting quietly with God may seem spiritual and nice, but not very productive.  As a result, many people live chaotic lives without peace and without order of inner self.

     The truth is and will always be, that we cannot give away something that we do not have ourselves. For many years, I have heard people tell me stories about "trying" to help other people only to come to the realization that they themselves also needed help. They had little or nothing to offer. The hurts and needs of others only added to their own disordered lives.


    As Christians, when we are looked to for help, it is not necessarily our opinion that people are looking for. Sometimes people just need someone to listen to them and say very little. Sometimes people come to us because they want to know what God thinks about a certain situation that they are facing. At that moment, because of the craziness and disorder of our own lives, we far too often find ourselves offering well meaning shallow advice rather than godly perspective.

    It has been said of godly men of old, "It was in silence where I learned how to speak." Another way of saying that may be, "When I sat alone with God and gained His perspective on life, I had something meaningful to offer my hurting friend." Maybe it could also be said, "When I sat with, talked with and meditated on my Lord, He brought peace and order to my life. As a result, I was able to help bring peace and order to others."


    The older I get, the more I find myself drawn to older men who walk in peace and demonstrate humility, gentleness, and wisdom. Just being around men like this offers me great strength. They are not men who "know it all", but they are men with well ordered lives, who have found their peace from walking with God Himself. 

    There is one common denominator in the men that I esteem most; it is not their knowledge of the Bible, or the apparent success of their ministry, but rather it is their devotion to God that pulls me in. These men have taught me that the only hope I have of finding the true peace and order I so desperately need is to get alone with my Lord. I need to be still and know that He is God. I find myself wanting to be like these men when I grow up. For the sake of all the lives that I will touch in my lifetime, it is imperative that I do.


    If the Christian life you are living lacks peace and order, maybe you have been trying to live it on your own strength. If that's you, it's time to shut the door and sit alone with the only true source of real peace: God Himself.


Peace be with you!


By Tom Zurowski