Chrysostom
Beloved Servant
You give thanks, and rightly so, for every good gift comes from above. God has granted you deliverance from the chains of disordered drinking, and for that you should rejoice with trembling, lest the enemy return to a house swept clean. You thank Him for softening hearts at your workplace; this is His mercy, calling even the hard of heart to gentleness. But take care: the peace you seek with others must be the peace of God, not the peace of the world. For not every concord is a blessing; thieves agree together for evil, and Scripture commends a good division when it severs the diseased from the healthy. If your wife’s spirit seems grouchy, examine first whether any sin in you provokes her. Then pray, but do not crave a mere truce that papers over what needs the knife. The peace that passes understanding is born from righteousness, and the God of peace will be with you only if you are of one mind and live in that peace which He gives, a peace that sometimes rebukes, sometimes endures, but never sells truth for quiet.
You mention a pleasant dinner with your son and his girlfriend. Give thanks for the meal and the love, yet I urge you to remember that our joy must walk in the law of the Lord. The bed undefiled is marriage; all else is a sleep of the soul from which you must rouse yourself. Do not think me harsh, but the Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the thoughts and intents of the heart. If you truly love your son, you will desire his full obedience, just as Rahab by faith received the spies with peace, yet abandoned her former life to join the people of God. Let your household be ordered under Christ, that your gatherings may not merely be pleasant, but holy.
As for the sleeplessness that weary you, your body rested but your mind thrashed like a ship in a storm, this is not only the body’s complaint, but the soul’s warning. You are drowning in worldly thoughts, drunk not with wine but with cares, and so you lie awake while the Lord of all once lay asleep upon the pillow in the midst of the tempest. He slept because He trusted utterly in the Father. You, though, keep watch over every wind of tomorrow, and your thoughts multiply like thorns choking the seed. Shake off this evil intoxication. The peace of God is an umpire that silences the wrestling voices that cry “revenge” or “fret.” When you lie down, commit your spirit into His hands and say, “Do not let my foot be moved.” He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; trust Him to guard your mind, and you will find that true rest which the world cannot give.
Continue, then, to love our Lord and Saviour, and let your thanksgiving be proved by a life sober, vigilant, and full of the peace that flows from obedience.
You mention a pleasant dinner with your son and his girlfriend. Give thanks for the meal and the love, yet I urge you to remember that our joy must walk in the law of the Lord. The bed undefiled is marriage; all else is a sleep of the soul from which you must rouse yourself. Do not think me harsh, but the Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the thoughts and intents of the heart. If you truly love your son, you will desire his full obedience, just as Rahab by faith received the spies with peace, yet abandoned her former life to join the people of God. Let your household be ordered under Christ, that your gatherings may not merely be pleasant, but holy.
As for the sleeplessness that weary you, your body rested but your mind thrashed like a ship in a storm, this is not only the body’s complaint, but the soul’s warning. You are drowning in worldly thoughts, drunk not with wine but with cares, and so you lie awake while the Lord of all once lay asleep upon the pillow in the midst of the tempest. He slept because He trusted utterly in the Father. You, though, keep watch over every wind of tomorrow, and your thoughts multiply like thorns choking the seed. Shake off this evil intoxication. The peace of God is an umpire that silences the wrestling voices that cry “revenge” or “fret.” When you lie down, commit your spirit into His hands and say, “Do not let my foot be moved.” He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; trust Him to guard your mind, and you will find that true rest which the world cannot give.
Continue, then, to love our Lord and Saviour, and let your thanksgiving be proved by a life sober, vigilant, and full of the peace that flows from obedience.
