How to Have Peace

Years ago, there was an automobile on the market called the Packard. The advertising slogan of the car was: “Ask the man who owns one.” The Packard automobile company felt that their customers were good advertisers. And as far as merchandise is concerned a satisfied customer is the best advertisement.

Jesus is longing to make satisfied customers who in turn will recommend what He has to others. He says, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich” (Revelation 3:18, first part), and that gold is faith and love, and if you have it, you’re rich, but from where did you get it? You got it from Jesus. This yoke He offers us is an easy yoke. Is it?

Maybe somebody’s thinking, Well, if all I had to do was wear His yoke, I think it would be easy, but you just don’t know how many other irons I’ve got in the fire. That’s the problem. So many other interests, so many other burdens, so many worries. No wonder people get worn out.

In order that we might understand how to do what He’s talking about He came to earth and lived the life He wants us to live. He came to show us how to live so as to secure life’s best results. Jesus did not divorce Himself from the common things of life; on the contrary. He spent most of His life helping to share the burdens of the home and helping to make the family living. From the time He was old enough to handle tools, all through His teens and twenties, He was working with His hands to take care of the problems of a home where poverty was the daily experience. And yet during all that time, in the more difficult experiences that came during His public ministry, His medical missionary work, He was never fussed up, He was never fuming, He was never angry, He didn’t get a nervous breakdown from the pressures.

It was in Gethsemane and on the cross that He carried the load that broke His heart, but that load He never asked us to carry. That is the load of sin. But at Nazareth and Capernaum by the shore of Galilee and in the villages of Judea He showed us how to live the peaceful life, the restful life, not by divorcing ourselves from human problems, but by being able to do more effective work because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

The rest that He invites us to is not the rest of inactivity. It’s not the experience of getting off on an island somewhere where the birds sing and the fruit drops from the trees and all we do is reach over and pick it and eat it and sing; be so glad that there is no phone and no people knocking at the door wanting to sell us something, nobody bothering us with their problems. This isn’t the life He lived. It isn’t the life He offers us. Incidentally, friend, if you had a chance to try that you’d soon be wanting to get back to the mainland. The rest offered is found in wearing the yoke of Christ.

This article will address four diverting and distracting influences.

“Jesus says, ‘Abide in Me’ (John 15:4). These words convey the idea of rest, stability, confidence. Again He invites, ‘Come unto Me, … and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28). The words of the psalmist express the same thought: ‘Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.’ And Isaiah gives the assurance, ‘In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength’ (Psalm 37:7; Isaiah 30:15 last part). This rest is not found in inactivity …” Inactivity won’t give you the rest “… for in the Saviour’s invitation the promise of rest is united with the call to labor: ‘Take My yoke upon you: … and ye shall find rest’ (Matthew 11:29). The heart that rests most fully upon Christ will be most earnest and active in labor for Him.

“When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan’s constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ.” Steps to Christ, 71.

What Jesus is wanting us to do when He asks us to take His yoke and link up with Him, is get our mind off ourself because the source of unrest is self. Some people exhibit that obsession with self by being great sinners, but there are ways that the saints can be as obsessed with self as the sinners are.

“It is Satan’s constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the world, life’s cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults and imperfections—to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind.” Ibid.

Satan wants to divert our minds. He doesn’t care a bit what diverts us; it’s what we’re being diverted from that he’s concerned about – that’s Jesus. He doesn’t want us to look to Jesus. He doesn’t want us to think about Jesus. He doesn’t want us to get the joy and the peace that comes from wearing His yoke and sharing His burdens. He constantly says, “Oh look here, did you see that? Look there, there’s something you’ve got to take care of.” Satan is very tactful, very careful. If he thinks that the thing that will divert you is racing horses and betting money on them, he will divert you with that. If it is a glass of whiskey that will get your attention, he will have somebody offer you that. But if he finds out that those kinds of things have no attraction to you, he will have some other temptation.

 

Most Successful Distractions:

  • the pleasures of the world
  • life’s cares and perplexities and sorrows
  • the faults of others
  • your own faults and imperfections

 

These are the things Satan is seeking to divert our minds to and with which he is most successful. All of these distractions are designed to divert us from Christ. One thing he does not want us to bear is His yoke. He fears that we will find the rest that Christ has offered and he says, Well, you may get to rest sometime but before you do, remember all these things you’ve got to take care of.

A distortion of the truth is that those who choose to follow Christ will lose the fun they get out of life. He has the world convinced that it is the pleasures of this life that give the most pleasure. They might be fun for a while, but once the consequences become apparent, it soon becomes obvious that those things have no lasting satisfaction.

There was a man who spent more money than you and I ever saw and who had more wisdom than you and I will ever have of ourself in just trying to have a good time and be satisfied with the pleasures of this world. Describing his own experience, Solomon said, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness” (Proverbs 14:12, 13). The king was rich and he could have and do anything he wanted; nothing was out of his reach, but he found that the pleasures of this world do not satisfy.

As I read this text I think of an experience a friend of mine told. One morning a man walked into the doctor’s office. Waiting his turn he came to talk with the physician, and he said, “Dr., I don’t know what is the matter with me but I just don’t feel well; I feel sick, feel bad.” So the doctor asked him questions, looked at his tongue, listened to his heart, had the other tests made that a physician would expect to make, and finally, he sat down again with him in the consultation room and he said, “My friend, as far as I can tell you’re okay. I think what the matter with you is, is that you need something to cheer you up. I’ve got an idea. There is a theatre having a fine show this week. There is a clown there that makes everybody laugh.” The man seeking help was the clown. He was making everybody laugh but he was seeking out the doctor to get some peace, some rest, some happiness. In many a party the person that laughs the loudest may be so weary and burdened and sad and anxious inside. The pleasures of this world do not satisfy.

Do not think that Jesus is trying to take the pleasure out of your life when He says, “Leave that stuff and come and bear the yoke with Me.” There’s more pleasure, more satisfaction, more abundant peace and joy in working with Jesus than there is in playing with the world.

Number two is getting closer to home. There are many of us that long ago said goodbye to the sins of Sodom and the fun of Babylon, but life’s cares and perplexities and sorrows have diverted our mind. You ask, how do you get away from those things? After all, we have to live. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He pointed us to the lilies of the field and He said they grow without worry. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin” (Matthew 6:28). Now Christ was not mocking us. There is no sense in His saying that to us if we cannot live without worry. Don’t be anxious, He says. Then He says, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things” (verse 33) … the food you have to eat, the clothes you have to wear – all these things God will add if you just make His kingdom first, if you’ll just come and bear His yoke.

God is looking for volunteers who will enlist in His army and take what He pays without question, will accept His invitation to come and share His yoke and take the consequences. Of course, if you’re determined to have more than He pays, then you can have the worries and the ulcers and the coronaries, the nervous breakdowns, and maybe even lose your soul. For it is written, “They that will be rich fall …” They don’t rise; they fall. This is the heavy yoke; it isn’t the light yoke. “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9). [Emphasis supplied.] Do you know a man could drown in honey? But this is not talking about drowning in honey; it’s talking about drowning in money. That’s even worse.

“They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Now notice carefully what the text says. It doesn’t say, Those that are rich. It says those that will be rich; that is, those that want to, and that work at it, and worry over it and are determined to be rich. That takes in a lot of people that never are rich. Millions of them. This is the devil’s game. It’s something like these electric rabbits that the dogs chase in the races. They never really catch the rabbit. But what would they do if they did?

And the covetous people of this world, they are divided into two classes – a small class that have caught the electric rabbit and they’re finding out how unsatisfying it is and the rest that are chasing it and never get it. “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare.” My friends, if there is anybody who needs our prayers it is the rich men of this world and those who are spending their time and their gray matter trying to be rich. They need our prayers that God will help us to show them the true riches. But listen. If you are simply a third-grade cheap edition of that same worry, how can you possibly help them? If you are wearing your life away to make a few shekels and it is just giving you ulcers, all sorts of worries, long faces, how in the world are you going to help the man that’s really immersed in it? Don’t you see God is longing for satisfied customers that have found something better? He says if you’ll do it, He’ll add whatever you need.

Notice what Paul says in the 8th verse: “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” Are you content? Someone may say, this thought just destroys ambition in people and makes them lazy. To bear the yoke of Christ, to share His burden is the greatest thing in all this world to awaken holy ambition.

There is a time to sleep, but even your dreams can be part of the program. “A dream cometh through the multitude of business” (Ecclesiastes 5:3), the wise man says. There are people who are so obsessed with the cares and the burdens of this life that they not only work at it all day long but they dream about it at night. Their sleep is troubled with worries and fears. It is a wonderful thing to be so linked up with Jesus that the thing you dream about at night is winning souls. That’s possible, my friends. Read the experience of young Ellen Harmon when she was only 15 years old there in Portland, Maine. She says, “Night after night in my dreams I seemed to be laboring for the salvation of souls.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 34. This was some time before she was called as God’s special messenger. Just a teenager, just a girl, but oh, she was linked up with Jesus in wearing His yoke, bearing His burden. She had something on her mind and heart; it was the salvation of souls. I am so thankful, friends, for the rest that Jesus offers us in fellowship with Him.

The third thing: the faults of others. Here is where the saints are really tempted. Testimonies, vol. 9, 184: “When you do your appointed work without contention or criticism of others, a freedom, a light, and a power will attend it that will give character and influence to the institutions and enterprises with which you are connected.

“Remember that you are never on vantage ground when you are ruffled and when you carry the burden of setting right every soul who comes near you.” What a picture of human nature. That’s no way to find rest.

“… when you carry the burden of setting right every soul who comes near you.” But someone says, But they need setting right. What is it they need to be set right by? They need to become like Jesus. Are you going to act like the devil trying to get them to be like Jesus? Would that be the way to help them? Are you going to be critical, faultfinding, sour and bitter, trying to help them to be sweet? Satan knows how to handle people that borrow his armor and his weapons. It’s when we lay down all those weapons of the enemy and take Jesus’ way, then the devil flees.

“Remember that you are never on vantage ground when you are ruffled and when you carry the burden of setting right every soul who comes near you. If you yield to the temptation to criticize others, to point out their faults, to tear down what they are doing, you may be sure that you will fail to act your own part nobly and well.” Ibid.

Let’s quit it if we’ve ever started and if we’ve never started let’s never begin.

Now this comes closer into the home. One of the sorriest, most pitiful things in life that I know is a house that was meant to be a home that no longer deserves that sacred word, where the members of the family are criticizing one another. The husband knows the faults of the wife, the wife knows the faults of the husband. The parents know the faults of the children, the children know the faults of the parents. Do you know why they know them? well they’re looking for them; they see them, and they are there. Lies are bad enough and sometimes the truth is worse. What’s happening all the time? That time spent in pointing out defects and harping on traits that are unfavorable is all the time lost from wearing the yoke of Jesus. Does it give people rest? Oh no, it gives them unrest. I’m not talking about discipline. I’m talking about a travesty of discipline. I’m not talking about authority in the proper way. I’m talking about a perversion of authority. Criticism awakens criticism in return – in the home, in the church, in the community. He hit me; I’ll hit him. He said something about me; I think I know something about him that is about as bad as what he told about me, maybe worse. And the tones rise and get louder and even the neighbors hear. Christians, people going to heaven, we need love. We can only get it from Jesus. But we will have to lay down the heavy yoke of criticism and faultfinding. “Come unto Me … and I will give you rest.”

Now the fourth one: our own faults. There are some hearts that are burdened more with this one than all the rest put together. There are conscientious souls that would not even think of running after the pleasures of this world and that would not say one critical word about other people, but they are burdened and distressed and worried and concerned about their own relationship to Christ. The devil has got them over a barrel and he is whipping them. He’s saying, “Didn’t you do that thing? Yes. And you think you’re a Christian? You’re not a Christian.”

“Many who are really conscientious, and who desire to live for God, he [Satan] too often leads to dwell upon their own faults and weaknesses, and thus by separating them from Christ he hopes to gain the victory. We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength. Commit the keeping of your soul to God, and trust in Him. Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him. Put away all doubt; dismiss your fears.” Steps to Christ, 71, 72. Dismiss your fears. Put away your doubts.

What should we do then with our sins and weaknesses? Give them to Jesus. Now all I’m saying is not for people who are deliberately hanging on to their sins. “If we confess our sins” … that’s not only admitting them, but giving them to Jesus. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When does He forgive us? When we confess. When does He take our sins? When we give them to Him. If we’ve never done it before do it right now. If we’ve done it in the past and the ghosts come back to haunt us let us this moment cast our helpless souls on Jesus and place our sins upon the Lamb. That’s where peace comes. That’s where rest comes.

This moment I can choose to turn from all the fun of this world, all the sorrow and worry of this world, the faults of others and my own faults and fix my gaze upon Jesus, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. He has invited me to be a junior partner in the firm of which he’s the senior partner. What a privilege!

Pray to Jesus: Is there any pleasure in this world that’s keeping me from You? If He brings anything to your mind, give it up to Him. Don’t wrestle with it; give it up to Him. Then, Lord, is there any care or worry or perplexity that’s burdening me, wearing my life out that You haven’t given me to carry? Give it to Him; believe He takes it. Then, Lord, have I been bothered and diverted by criticizing and faultfinding? If He brings something to your mind, give it to Him; ask Him to forgive you; ask Him to help you not to do it again. Lastly, Lord, have I been worried and burdened down with a knowledge of my own faults? Has that been keeping me from having peace and rest? Lord, I give those things to You. I know You hear me and I know You will help me.

 

Elder W.D. Frazee studied the Medical Missionary Course at the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda, California. He was called to Utah as a gospel medical evangelist. During the Great Depression, when the church could not afford to hire any assistants, Elder Frazee began inviting professionals to join him as volunteers. This began a faith ministry that would become the foundation for the establishment of the Wildwood Medical Missionary Institute in 1942. He believed that each person is unique, specially designed by the Lord, of infinite value, and has a special place and mission in this world which only he can fill. His life followed this principle and he encouraged others to do the same.