Peace in our times

 

Politicians and religious leaders spend a lot of time and effort attempting to bring 'peace in our times'. Lasting peace is elusive and impossible purely by human effort and ingenuity. Most people fail to see that if they don't deal with the underlying causes of unrest, the problem will never be identified, and peace will never be created.

Our approach to producing peace often fails to dig deep enough. Jeremiah, the ancient prophet of Israel, faced this shallow approach to peace. He wrote on more than one occasion, 'Peace, peace when there is no peace?' Jer 6.14, Jer 8.11. People then, as in our day, were looking at life in a very superficial way. They had treated the word of God with contempt by ignoring what it said. The reason there was no peace was the sinful lifestyles of people. The same is true today. We cannot expect to have peace when we break the moral code of God (as nations, families and individuals) and flagrantly ignore the principles that are for our good. Scripture says, 'Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people,' Prov. 14. 34.

Billy Graham Remembered - What will you be remembered for?

What will you be remembered for? 

When your life is over what will you be remembered for? It’s quite a sobering question.

In a previous career, I read a book called ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Dr Stephen R. Covey. In his book, Dr Covey introduced a habit, called ‘the habit of Beginning with the End in Mind’. The idea was a wise one. To achieve anything, you need to know what you are aiming for. Having done that you need to work out how to get there. What are you aiming for?