Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Watchman Nee
Living in Sin
If you are living in sin, then you are probably miserable. You might appear to be the same to those around you, but you and God know different. When we live with unconfessed sin, or we’re living a lifestyle that we know is sinful, we cannot expect to have the peace of God. We’ll live in an un-peaceful state, at best. And it robs our joy and witnessing for Christ because we’ll probably think, “Who am I to share Christ with another person? I’m not even living it!?”
Not Being Content
The Apostle Paul wanted to become more like Christ, and the church to grow in holiness and godliness, so Paul identifies one attribute of living a godly life, and its’ one of being content with whatever state you are in. Paul wrote, that “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1st Tim 6:6), so contentment is something he had to learn (Phil 4:11), meaning it didn’t come naturally. If you live in a perpetual state of discontentment, God cannot use you or me very much because our minds are not operating normally in this frame of mind.
Have the Funeral
Whenever we harbor anger, we are mining our own harbor. If we can’t get rid of our resentment and anger, we can’t ever have peace, and with no peace, there is no peace of mind. Last year at our church we had a funeral. I asked everyone that wanted to participate to write down on a piece of paper something that they’ve have had a hard time letting go of. Maybe they were hurt, betrayed, and cheated by someone. Whatever it was, write it down and put it in the coffin! We put them all into a shoebox (coffin) and went to the backyard of the church where we had the funeral. We buried it. It’s now dead. We can let it go. We’ve just had closure. If you’ve never buried that grievance, have the funeral. Only then will the peace come back.
Conclusion
Nobody can ever have the peace of God until they are first at peace with God, so first of all if you have never trusted in Christ, you only have a temporary peace; a peace that the world brings but is not a lasting peace. You need to make peace with God through Jesus Christ; otherwise, an unpeaceful mind cannot operate normally.
