CHRISTIAN PEACE must realize that Christ alone de serves the honor and the glory. Peace comes only as we are willing to live our lives in accordance with Cod's priorities. Those who go out only for praise are among the most miserable in all the world. Some of those who have received the crowd's accolades have even ended their lives in suicide. Perhaps a good question for all of us in this bind is to ask, “Do I want praise or do I want peace? It may well be that we cannot have both. In the Old Testament we read the promise, “Great peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them" (Psalm 119:165). Such individuals live in harmony because they live in accordance with God's will and God's way. Misery accompanies those who go contrary to this direction (such as actively seeking pleasure rather than God's way). David speaks of this in testifying, “O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath; neither chas ten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me greatly" (Psalm 38:1). Doubtless, while we do not know the full circumstances, he had done something contrary to God's law. He felt the pressures of conflict between his will and God's law. David learned his les son, and he wrote, "Great peace have they who love thy law." In a similar way, Proverbs 3:1, 2 also emphasizes this fact, “My son, for get not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee." In the Old Testament it is clear, obe dience to God's law was the path to peace. Going your own way was a source of conflict and could re- Page 10
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