To win true peace, a man needs to feel himself directed, pardoned and sustained by a supreme power, to feel himself in the right road, at the point where God would have him be -- in order with God and the universe. This faith gives strength and calm.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
Romans 14:19-20 (HCSB)
So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats.
I was moved by the words of Amiel. Think for a moment of what it is that he is saying. If we “individually” are not at peace then we will not promote peace, the reason for that being the fact that we are not at peace within ourselves. Thus the words of Paul brings meaning to our present day dilemma, so then…we “must” pursue peace.
In this pursuit Paul also says that we are not to do it alone, and it doesn’t happen alone, it happens because we are seeing to it that someone else is at peace and in that process I am assured to be at peace. In this process someone else is included in my pursuit of peace, and my peace depends on how much I am helping someone else to be at peace.
What a different way to look at things. Being concerned with me too much can be detrimental to my peace, and being concerned about someone else can build my peace. The penalty for not doing that is the loss of my personal peace, and more than that if I am harming my brother, I am destroying myself…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
Romans 14:19-20 (HCSB)
So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats.
I was moved by the words of Amiel. Think for a moment of what it is that he is saying. If we “individually” are not at peace then we will not promote peace, the reason for that being the fact that we are not at peace within ourselves. Thus the words of Paul brings meaning to our present day dilemma, so then…we “must” pursue peace.
In this pursuit Paul also says that we are not to do it alone, and it doesn’t happen alone, it happens because we are seeing to it that someone else is at peace and in that process I am assured to be at peace. In this process someone else is included in my pursuit of peace, and my peace depends on how much I am helping someone else to be at peace.
What a different way to look at things. Being concerned with me too much can be detrimental to my peace, and being concerned about someone else can build my peace. The penalty for not doing that is the loss of my personal peace, and more than that if I am harming my brother, I am destroying myself…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William
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