40 Days of PEACE

Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of PEACE
Day 23 | SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT | 1 Peter 3:10-11

SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT

1 Peter 3:10-11
“Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.”

There are over 7,000 promises in the Word of God.  I have not personally counted them, but many others have come up with numbers like that.

The promise here is to “see good days,” and who doesn’t want that?

But then, we find the conditional phrase – the “catch,” if you will – in the last two-thirds of the verse: “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.”

When I read “pursue it,” I thought about the idea of going to college and pursuing a college degree.  To earn a college degree takes making a decision, coming up with a plan, keeping focused, and not quitting.

It turns out that 30% of first-year college students drop out of college.  It turns out that only 33% of those who start college finish with an earned degree.

So why… and what has this to do with our Scripture?

As a former university professor myself, I have seen students give up and quit. The reasons vary, but they do.  The TOP reason students don’t finish is this: they lose their focus. They get spread too thin. They get discouraged, and it just seems easier to quit.

There are many who want PEACE in their own lives, but, for whatever reason, don’t have it.  I suspect that those “seeking peace” have gotten sidetracked, have lost their focus, figure they are not worthy of God’s peace, and have quit.

Know this… Jesus wants YOU to be living a life of peace.  It starts with a REAL relationship with Him as your Savior.  And then, it takes focus, prayer, and realizing that God is FOR you and not against you.

Prayer: LORD, I want the peace that you offer. Help me to focus on You and Your Word.  Thank you. Amen.