“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:14-17
Active Resonance
Peace is an effect. It is the result of the quality of confidence you have in your state of being. It is of a resounding harmony. It reverberates against disorder and chaos. Peace is an active resonance in your mind and body that is as close to the nature of absolute truth as can possibly be.
There is an infinite amount of chaos or molecular randomness that resides constantly in the environment. But even chaos is governed by underlying patterns of ordered molecular motion. So, the momentum going forward is always and forever truth, order, and light, irrespective of the seeming unpredictability of chaos.
To the divergent force associated with chaos, the mental energy that resounds as peace is its antithesis.
Active Belief
The activity of consciousness remain deep and full, as it actively opposes lack and soaks up information– nature abhors a vacuum. The choices are substantial, otherworldly and earthly, and the integrity of consciousness clings to whatever brings peace. But peace has a noticeable pattern of wisdom and understanding that is both innate and self-evident because what brings us peace directly impacts our quality of life.
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”James 3:17-18
Exacerbating Feedback
The world has a knack for feeding fears, and even at the heights of civilization, the world still devolves to meet our fear mechanism. As the world positions, engineers, and ensnares in an assault on our sympathetic response, it configures and inputs a type of ordered chaos and outputs an unstable feedback loop. And one small disturbance in our internal or external environment- exacerbates. One seemingly ineffectual but exacerbating feedback building upon another if the internal system does not value a steady state.
Balancing feedback
Without a competitive balancing feedback– without a system that is extremely sensitive to counteract each and every rudimentarily deployed fear tactic; without a neutralizing, stabilizing, negating effect in response to this overstimulated world which knows it has found its technological sweet spot; without an active program for peace in our internal environment which extends outward- we are outmaneuvered into an onslaught of misleading fear.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” Psalms 32:8.
Faith
Belief + action + confidence = Faith. Go forward by faith. The only way forward is by faith. And how do we know this causation? Because our inclination is to always be moving forward. To not be at a standstill but to grow. We’re wired to move with time, to consider the future, to seek avenues that ultimately lead to progress and peace. We build upon what we know; we act upon what we believe. These are the building blocks of our faith that propels forward the chain of events in which life unfolds.
There is a reason for everything. A never-ending series of remarkable occurrences with causal connections. A way forward that draws us in the way of purpose, and draws us through time like magnetism. Should we care to know is an exercise in wonder.
Force of Life
We are in the midst of surrender to the force of life that connects us all. We relatively live in the unknown from our point of view. Ideal objectivity is ever so out of reach- we are in echo chambers of egos. We think and feel with skewed emotional maturity- intellectually striving to subvert our primal drives. We feel masterful in our autonomy. To know we’re not the ones in control is to threaten our sovereignty.
We make our choices, every second of every day, one after the other. Without a thought or indiscriminately, or with impeccable planning and forethought; But also with guidance. An invisible hand in the form of momentum moving us forward.
God’s Will-Your Journey
So, are we creating this journey of life with God? Is the way paved before us or are we paving the way? Free will or determinism. The answer is both. Free will and destiny coexist. We are all in a symbiotic relationship with our creator God and with each other. The good, the bad, the ugly things in life, all mutually dependent. All our choices are a means to an end. God draws you to Him as we all draw nearer and nearer to the end of time and a new heaven and a new earth.
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;” 1 Corinthians 2:6-7
Remembering
Before you were born, you were inspired, breathed, and known by God. Every bit of information that is your intricate genetic makeup is known and stored within you by God. You are of a reverberating lineage; one that is vibrant and resounding in space and time. Who still remembers?
Innatism suggests that the mind is born with knowledge, ideas, and beliefs. Memory that transcends our experiences. Could there be memories encoded before birth? An intangible faculty of memory stored prior to all mind body experience.
Although the mind is not a blank slate at birth, we need our senses and experiences as keys to unlocking what is stored knowledge and intellect, and even remembrance. Things that are innate to you are things that you naturally identify with through sensation, reflection, and memory.
Memory is your brain’s capacity and function to encode, store, retain, and recall information from sensory experiences. The collection of our experiences since birth and our innate sensibilities. Every experience and memory shapes us in purposeful ways. And although specific memories may be forgotten, those memories that truly shape us are never completely gone.
“Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:6-7
Nothing has meaning
Nihilism- the undoing of belief, where belief is nothingness. It is the story of annihilation of the human spirit. The plot and ploy to instill nothingness– to determine that nothingness be willed in the heart of man. Life has no meaning or value (existential nihilism); there is no right or wrong, no good or evil (moral nihilism); all knowledge and beliefs are baseless (epistemological nihilism); reality does not exist (metaphysical nihilism).
“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” Proverbs 27:12
19th Century
Seven delicate years in, and the 19th century was developing proudly. Puffed up- with a head crowned heavily with death and injustice in its formative years, it knew nothing of true freedom. Still fixed to stubbornness but the years grew wise in knowledge of what progress looks like. Injustice had a name, inequality grew shameful. A higher purpose was the calling. Visions of unity echoed out the mouths of babes.
The future had steam; the years had the momentum of industry. It pushed us forward come hell or high water.
20th Century
The 20thcentury had undercurrents of hope and change not fully realized but inevitable. We moved with the civil rights movement. It made us better, humanity became stronger.
21st Century
Information takes its place, the good and the destructive. Widespread and primed for manipulation, the 21st century has information technology fast and furious. Now, as we methodically advance through time, shaking in our knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs- what is our melody? Are we in tune?
The future has a sound. I hear it. It is intelligent beyond words. Beyond our imagination but of our imagination. The music is captivating. The drums are ominous, but the strings are soothing. The horns, harmonious. And the score is arranged for us to abstract the notes of who we are, and where we’re going.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27
Influence by Bondage
The cycle of influence by bondage in the world, is like the ouroboros- the serpent eating its own tail. The cycle is persistent, and the effect is perpetual suffering because the course is cyclical. There is no escape from man made constructs that determine influence, and there is no escape from the negative elements that hold sway. This is societal torment. This is in opposition to love. This is the control of the mind which is predisposed to imbalance.
Peace of Mind & Heart
Now the heart you’ll find uncompromising. It beats steadfast with life purpose. The heart is less ruled or controlled and less volatile. It is independent. You can hold peace in the heart.
The heart is central and fundamental. It is fearless in its duties, promoting life and love. Unswayed, but the heart is vulnerable to attack if unprotected.
So, protect the heart you must. There is a battle in this world for each and every person. The conflict between the heart and the mind.
Battle for Heart & Mind
As influence looms to besiege the heart’s independence, it employs to make the heart sick. It works to harden the heart. To eject all peace and instill fear.
It is your right to push back against the persistent cycle of influence in the world. To connect back to Truth and its freedom. Question everything, hear, then feel with your heart. Cause your own independent, personal awareness. Hone what you believe. Connect to what brings you peace.
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)” Ephesians 5:8-9
Lighting a candle or building a small fire is a peaceful thing. It calms. It evokes a sentimentality. Could it be that it reminds us of a simpler life? That we connect to memories of small quite gatherings lit by the warmth of a fire- A time before the modern unnatural- at home with the quiet flicker of candles or a wood fire. A time of comfort in communion or in solitude.
Putting flame to dance for a moment, in the quiet of our presence, as it lights up the darkness, is akin to revelation. When we are revealed, we are actively in concert with lighting up the darkness in our immediate presence. This active belief is like our basic survival instinct, and it connects to what brings us peace. Without that which brings us peace, we are self-destructive.
Distant affixed memories of what brings us peace automatically resonate with us. Therefore, relax into that which brings peace and concurrently connect back to that light which brings us life.
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength”
Proverbs 17:22
The truth of Jesus Christ is the anchor to our souls. This truth directs us to what is best for our lives. It leads us to be good to ourselves, to do good for others, and expect all that is good from our lives. It guides us in a healthy direction.
Searching Heart
Our belief in the truth is what matters to our whole being because it harmonizes our whole being. We need to search our hearts and determine what we believe, and as it says in the gospel “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). Seeking God is a very personal process and it is guided by our experiences in life- the people we meet, our experiences of right and wrong, good and evil. God guides us into truth and leads us to a place where we find Him. He develops an interest within us to understand Him and to pursue Him. Do you feel that call, that desire to know Him more? To know more and more of the truth?
One of the best places to start is in the word of God that teaches us that Jesus is the way the truth and the life- belief comes from hearing the good news about Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5).
The word of God in our bible is one of God’s most glorious gifts! It uncovers the truth and teaches us how to live, how to overcome, and how to prosper. “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12).
Believing Heart
Learning the truth that is God’s word is how we anchor our soul and bring our body (heart), soul, and mind into harmony. As it says in the gospel “and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Lets strive to be free from bad habits and negativity that inhibit our growth and our best health. Anything that abridges our harmony impacts our efforts to be useful for God.
Start. Take a stand to determine what you believe. Search your heart, soul, and mind and listen to its call- the gospel says “I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 10:16). We grew up with the things that are known in the Bible, and if we didn’t grow up with it, it came to our knowledge in some divine way- as the gospel says, “For everyone, from the least to the greatest will know me already” (Hebrews 8:11). Trust God as firmly as you did when you first believed. Connect with the truth of the word of God through church, bible studies, bible journaling, TV or radio ministry, or any other way you can learn more about God. Jesus is calling…. calling you for the first time, calling you back, or calling you deeper. Listen, learn, follow, believe.
