May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

The apostle Paul included this statement in his letter to the Romans. He had not yet met them, so in his letter he gave a brief introduction then went on to speak of the Gospel. His message here, clearly offers them hope in a loving God.

Does being filled with joy and having peace seem like a daunting task to you? We all know the answer to that question – Yes! And the reasons are endless:

• Family obligations, funnel our 24 hour day into too many narrow minutes.
• Work, produces stress fractures on our abilities to achieve.
• Government requirements, restrict our finances.
• The need to “fit in,” overtakes our self esteem.
• Religious conflicts, impair our desire to help certain others.

But our loving God is bigger than our excuses!

Sure, we can spew a hundred individual justifications for each excuse. However, our excuses overwhelm us because we approach them the wrong way. We allow the mechanics of our lives to take over our judgment. Instead of turning to the very Creator, Designer, and Architect of our lives for instruction, we choose to allow and yes invite more complexity into our lives. We demonstrate this by not trusting in God to fill us with joy and peace. Instead, we try to navigate our lives on our own.

I believe life with joy and peace is very possible in our complex world. But it isn’t something that is easily attainable when we habitually plot a course for complexity. To live within society, we feel obliged to steer ourselves in many directions at once, often going around in circles.

But the filling of joy and peace within us is attainable, when we let go of the helm and allow God to steer our lives. Trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope. And invite the Holy Spirit into your life everyday, so that He may work within you and give you the power to chart a perfect course.

Paul, in his beautifully written letter to the Romans, explains how Christians should live. He talks about God’s faithfulness, His righteous judgement, and God’s limitless love. Why not take time to read it today?

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