A Practical Walk

I have a tiny scrap of paper I tore out of my church bulletin from a Sunday service. Scribbled on it is three words, “Peace is knowing.” That phrase from the sermon resonated with me, as I had been contemplating what peace really was. I tend to think of it as a feeling, but that just doesn’t seem like the full picture.

People might ask how you made a major life decision and in most Christian circles an acceptable answer is, “God gave me a peace about it.” I’ve probably said this myself. Does that mean it was a decision based on a feeling?

Being a fairly emotional person myself, emotions often drive my decisions. Something will feel like the right thing to do in the moment. But making decisions just based on my feelings hasn’t always been beneficial. The problem is I don’t always have peace, at least not if you’re talking about the calm, serene feeling of carefreeness.

What about love? For a long time now, I’ve believed that love is a choice. Love is action. When your itty bitty baby is crying in the night and you’re already sleep deprived, you might not have a bunch of warm fuzzy feelings toward them in that particular moment. But you choose…out of love…to hold them, feed them, change their diaper, even though you’re exhausted yourself and maybe crying right alongside them. Love is a choice in this scenario, love is an action. Love is making a choice to do something even when you don’t feel like it.

So, could it be that peace is similar? Maybe it’s not just a feeling, maybe it’s a choice, maybe it’s an action, maybe, like the pastor said, it’s knowing.

In English, peace has at least two connotations. If we say two countries are at peace with each other it doesn’t mean the two countries feel calmness. It means they’ve chosen to be allies and not fight one another. In this case peace is a choice.

I am at peace with God, because Christ made a way for me to enter His prescence. This peace is a fact. I am no longer God’s enemy, I’m on His side, we’re at peace. I can know this….even when I don’t feel it.

So even when I don’t feel the truth, I can still know the truth and I can still choose to dwell on the truth.

So when I don’t FEEL like things are going to turn out right, can I KNOW that God is trustworthy?

What about joy? If joy is a happy go-lucky feeling, I sure don’t feel that all the time. But maybe joy is a choice. Maybe joy is choosing gratefulness. Maybe joy is the action of gratitude. Maybe joy is a knowing, a knowing that I’m on God’s side and He is trustworthy.

As this post has sat in my drafts folder with me adding to it here and there, I heard this:

“The best definition of joy I ever heard was not that, “Oh I’m giddy and happy. ” It’s having a theistic optimism about life. In other words you, you live your life under the assumption optimistically that ultimately God does know what He’s doing and it will turn out the way God wants it in the end.” Michael Heiser on What Jesus Actually Said About Salvation, around 4 min 45 sec into the video, but listening to the whole section is really impactful.

Could it be that love, joy, and peace are all choices and actions more than feelings? I’m still mulling over this and would love your thoughts.