You know, one of our problems—one of the reasons peace can be so elusive—is because our thoughts can be so negative. Dr Elinore Kinarthy says:
The average person has more than two hundred negative thoughts a day—worries, jealousies, insecurities, cravings for forbidden things, etc. Depressed people have as many as six hundred. You can’t eliminate all the troublesome things that go through your mind, but you can certainly reduce the number of negative thoughts.
Here’s a quiz: Who remembers the TV show The Brady Bunch?
- Who was the dad in the family? He was Mike Brady,
- Who played dad? Robert Reed.
An exceptional missionary
Unfortunately Hollywood actor Robert Reed died aged 59. But I don’t want to talk about that Robert Reed—there’s another Robert Reed, still alive living in the United States, who was a missionary. Robert graduated from Abilene Christian University in Texas with a degree in Latin, taught at a junior college in St Louis, and ventured overseas on five mission trips before finally moving to Lisbon in Portugal as a missionary in 1972.
And when he got there, he did three things right away—he rented a hotel room where he could live, he began studying Portuguese so he could better communicate, and he found a restaurant owner who would feed him, because he could not feed himself. You see, Robert has cerebral palsy. His hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t brush his own teeth. He can’t put on his own clothes. His shirts are held together by strips of velcro.
His speech is difficult to understand. He can’t drive a car. He can’t ride a bike. He can’t even go for a walk. But that did not keep him from becoming a missionary to Portugal. Everyday, Robert would station himself in a park where he would use his twisted hands to pass out brochures about Jesus. And within six years, he helped introduce seventy people to Jesus, one who became his wife, Rosa. Now, Robert could have been bitter because of his disease—but he didn’t. He could have asked for pity—but he didn’t. Robert could have adopted a really bad self-image—but he didn’t. Robert does just the opposite. He celebrates.
Max Lucado is an author you may have heard of, and he tells the story of Robert Reed in some of his writing. And he tells about how he went to hear Robert Reed speak. Let me read you what he wrote:
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I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, “I have everything I need for joy.” (Max Lucado, Peace that Defies Pain)
You can’t have the peace of God until you have peace with God.
Find your inner peace
That’s a man who has peace within himself. That’s a man who understands his worth. That’s a man who has experienced the peace that only the Prince of Peace—Jesus—can bring. You can’t have the peace of God until you have peace with God. Jesus was talking to his disciples towards the end of his life and said in John 16:31-33 (CEV):
Do you really believe me? The time will come and is already here when all of you will be scattered. Each of you will go back home and leave me by myself. But the Father will be with me, and I won’t be alone. I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.
Earlier on Jesus had said to them (John 14:26-27 – CEV):
The Holy Spirit will come and help you because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place. The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you. I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It is not like the peace that this world can give. So don’t be worried or afraid.
God offers you lots of good things—things you want to have—peace, joy, fulfilment, purpose, meaning, forgiveness, hope, eternal life. And they are all made available to you within the context of a relationship with God.
There’s a wonderful prayer in Psalm 4:8 (NLT):
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.
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