Perfect Peace

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

The Devil wants your mind. When the word of God is sown in the minds of those by the wayside, Satan comes and snatches it up (Mark 4:15). He blinds the minds of people in spiritual darkness so the light of the glorious gospel won't shine in their hearts (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The Devil wants the Christian anxious, fearful, doubting, distracted, entertained, and sleepy. He wants your mind anywhere but on Christ.

The world wants your mind. This world is full of unrest and anxiety. Social media can overwhelm you with the amount of information that comes at you, wave after wave. According to Time Magazine, the average American adult checks their phone 46 times a day (teenagers average around 74). Real news, fake news, inconsequential news all floods and overloads the minds of most Americans. The world system wants you to imbibe its philosophy, accept its premises, and be subject to its agenda. The world system wants you to be a unique and individual thinker, just like everyone else. The world wants your mind anywhere but on Christ. Look around and you will see an overwhelmed, overcome, and exhausted people. People without peace. A people without the joy of the Lord. Individuals distraught and distracted, unable and then unwilling to look to the Lord or find it difficult to sit through a sermon because they have lost the ability to concentrate. A populace losing the ability to read without distraction. A nation that cannot read God's Word because they have been trained to have no attention span.

What's the answer? Stepping away from many of those things that distract and steal our attention is a good first step. But then what? Unplugging won't solve the problem that existed in Paul's day. People had the same problems in Bible times and Paul didn't even have Twitter and Peter wasn't on Facebook. Isaiah gives us the answer. God will provide perfect peace to those whose minds are fixed on Him. God promises his people, if we focus our attention and our thoughts on Him, he will give us peace. Meditate on who God is, what God has done and is doing. God gives his people peace when we focusing on the love of God, the power of God, the holiness of God and the other attributes the Bible tells us about the Creator. In a unstable world full of unease and unrest, God will bless you with peace and assurance if you look to Him and trust in the person of Christ. The more you learn about God, the more you consider God's attributes, the more lovely He becomes to us and the more we will learn to trust Him. The world wants your mind. The Devil wants your mind. God the Holy Spirit will renew your mind and give you peace when you stay your mind on Him.