This is the work that Jesus calls us: "Believe on Him whom the Father hath sent." (John 6:29)
This is a work, a work of resting in His promises.
This rest of faith does not come easily to mankind.
Paul wasn't kidding when he wrote "Fight the good fight of faith."
In the original Greek, it reads more like "Let the good fight of faith be fought."
We don't have to keep fighting the devil. He is defeated. We do not have to fight sin, since it's been paid for and condemned on the Cross.
We must fight to stay at rest, to know that Jesus accomplished a perfect work for us at the Cross.
There is so much in the world to incite us to upset and disharmony.
Yet Jesus encourages us with "Let not your heart be troubled."
Indeed.
He also informed His disciples, and to us:
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might
have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
It's good to meditate on God's Word, to read the Scriptures, since we are so inclined to look over, to pass over words of hope and encouragement which would otherwise slip away from us.
After all, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). We keep hearing, we keep listening, and we keep receiving new revelation from the same word, from the same verses.
Jesus spoke His word to us from John 14 to John 16, that we would have peace in Him!
We do not have peace in the world. We do not have peace in our circumstances. We do not even want the peace that the world can offer, since it's temporal, faulty, and ultimately false.
Jesus did not sugar-coat the truth that the world is fallen and fraught with sin and problems: "In the world, ye hall have tribulation."
There will be weapons that form against us--but they will not prosper (Isaiah 54:17). One thousand men may fall at our sides, and 10,000 more at our right hands, but the plague, the menace will not touch us (Psalm 91:7).
Let's accept these promises today. Let's step up to the one exhortation which Jesus laid at our hands:
"Let not your heart be troubled."
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