Forfeit

Forfeit - the act of giving up, usually motivated by ones belief in the impossibility of winning under the current circumstances.

Today I have had the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" running through my head. Mainly the line that says oh, what peace we often forfeit...all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

How often do we voluntarily give up our peace as a result of the circumstances we find ourselves in? Jesus promised us his peace in the middle of the troubles of this world and yet, often we expect our peace to come from outside of us rather than from within, where the peace giver lives. And so our circumstances dictate our ability to have peace.

This is not what Jesus intended. He promised that we would have troubles in this world and that he would be our peace in the storm.

If I'm being quite honest, the circumstances I am dealing with right now are not pleasant. At all. But I am choosing to have peace. Because Jesus has promised to provide it.