christ – Anna Down South

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Galatians 2:20

Happy Easter weekend, I hope you get to spend it celebrating with loved ones. I want to take this time to talk about peace and forgiveness.

We call Christ the Prince of Peace and it’s a fitting title for the lamb who delivered us from evil. We have been given the chance to find deep lasting inner peace with him. My life hasn’t been peaceful lately, it’s been chaotic. I’ve felt posed for the next thing to rattle us. But that’s not to say there hasn’t also been deep joy, I’ve got a beautiful healthy family and a ton of love in my life. Yes there are flaws, both in me and in life, but if the Son of God can die for the flaws within me the least I can do is make peace with the flaws forced upon me by unseen circumstances.

There is a lot of talk in the self help world about inner peace and I think it’s good talk, but for someone religious I think it’s important to look beyond the guru talks and find the extremely humbling inner peace that comes with being loved, forgiven, and knowing God has a plan. If you’re anything like me you find yourself in phases were you hang onto that and phases when you manically forget that deep peace. I’ve been forgetting it in this season, so what better time than Easter to rewrap myself in the loving cloak of The Prince of Peace?

The truth is God is unmoving, it’s us who drift back and forth to Him, shall we all make an effort to bask in His Glory this weekend and find the peace and love He offers us.

I passed a church sign the other day that read: “You might be the only bible that someone reads.”

Its a universal enough thought, but it really struck me hard. How many people do we pass by who aren’t religious? The numbers are growing. There is also a growing number of people like me, who try, but not hard enough. I’m not an avid church goer, though I do make it from time to time. I read my bible some, but most my Christian life is wrapped up in prayer, which is good, but not enough. If I’m like this and I consider myself a Christ follower, imagine how little others come in contact with the word.

We’re supposed to think about our actions a lot as Christians, we’re supposed to repent when they aren’t well, and pray about how we can do better. We spend so much of our lives fighting our own demons and sins. When we’re trying to be better the effort is often pointed inward, because we realize that’s were most of our bad forms. We sometimes let down our outward reflection of Christ in this battle. It’s easy to do, we’re trying to be like Him, but none of us really are.

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