What you Need to Know

In a time of non-stop news, many times we are told things we don’t even need to know. Understanding the threat level of the coronavirus and the time frame of when our lives may get back to normal is something I feel like I need to know. If there is an outbreak in my area, I need to know. If the virus is spreading at a faster rate than predicted, that is something I need to know.  If our State Department and C.D.C and Health departments are making progress in developing a vaccine or treatment for the virus, that’s something I need to know. How I can do my part in stopping the spread of the virus is what I need to know.  

There is something else I need to know in a time of widespread panic and fear, but the government is not going to tell me in daily briefings, nor is the news. I need to know how to have peace in my heart and mind that is greater than the shocking news reports with all the analysis. If you don’t know this already, you need to, because fear is gripping the hearts and minds of thousands and thousands of people right now.  Peace can be so incredibly fragile when the source of your peace is found in something outside of you.  If your source of peace is found in the circumstances around you, peace may stop by for a short visit, but it’s not staying.  If your peace is found in a dollar amount you have secured in a bank somewhere, your peace can completely disappear overnight without bank robbers having anything to do with it.  If your peace is found in the person closest to you, that peace can disappear because it’s only a matter of time a virus or something else will visit that person and they will be gone.  So the source of your peace is critically important.  What would you say is the source of your peace?  Do you have peace and is it holding you or is panic and fear shaking you?  

The way to have this peace I’m talking about is by having a presence inside of you.  The peace we need must come from within us, because we can never control the environment around us.  This amazing peace is only found in once place in all the world, it’s found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  To have this peace, you must open your heart and allow Him to come in and live inside of you.  You will still have all hell break loose around you, but heaven can open up inside of you.  If that’s what you want in your life, you have to open the door of your heart because no one else can.  You must know the one thing that keeps God out of our lives and that is our sin.  

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  

As far as human standards are concerned, you may be a great person, even citizen of the year, but your sin keeps God at a distance just like mine does.  But God will be faithful to knock on the door of your heart and will be merciful and gracious to come inside you if you will open that door by faith.  

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  

Salvation and God’s peace is all by grace, meaning we don’t deserve it.  It is a gift.  You don’t pay for it because Jesus did on the cross.  Jesus Christ did what was required for heaven’s doors to be open wide for you and for God’s amazing peace to be in you.  

Ephesians 2:14 says, “For He Himself is our peace.”  

You might think, “Is that all?”  Well, there is so much more, but this right now is what you need to know.  So right where you are, you can open the door of your heart and invite God to live inside of you.  God sees your heart and He knows if the words that come from our mouths line up with the desires of our hearts.  And listen, peace is just one of the incredible products that come with having God in your life.  But if peace is what you need right now and you don’t know if Christ lives in you or not, tell God, “I’m opening my heart and life to you right now.  I believe you sent your Son to die on the cross for my sins and I believe that He rose from the dead, and right now I hand over the title and keys to my life.  Forgive me for all my sins and fill me with your Spirit.  From this moment forward, my life is yours.  I ask this believing in Jesus name, Amen.”