Quiet and Holy

If I close my eyes real tight and cover my ears, I can imagine myself in a favorite spot: sitting underneath my umbrella on the beach with only the sounds of waves and shore birds.  Oh, yes, I can!

You know, there’s something that must not go unnoticed to those who venture into those otherwise peaceful waves.  The undercurrent of the ocean is a force to reckoned with.  As long as you're aware of its presence and its strength, you're okay.  Should you dare to ignore its pull, however, you're in trouble.  Such is the Christian walk.  Evil's pull on our life is continual ... bad versus good.  It’s because of our sinful nature that evil thrives.  Good must be pursued. Our struggle is sometimes tumultuous; other times a quiet battle.  Either way, however, the stress of it can leave us discouraged.  In his book, Forging a Realworld Faith, Gordon MacDonald writes: "In the third century, St. Cyrpian wrote to a friend named Donatus: 'This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see; brigands on the high road, pirates on the seas, in the amphitheaters men murdered to please the applauding crowds, under all roofs misery and selfishness. It really is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians ... and I am one of them.'"  People of a joy a thousand times better: those who, in the midst of restless – sinful – disobedient undercurrents of today, -- can be of a quiet and holy spirit.  I do not live at the beach; why, I don’t even get there but perhaps once a year but I can live in the Spirit of the Risen Lord Who soothes my soul and quiets my spirit.  "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess 5:23).  Oh, yes, I can!