Peace - the Fruit of Righteousness

“Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.” Alexander Maclaren

“Grace remits sin and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever. Only Christians possess this victorious knowledge given from above. These two terms, grace and peace, constitute Christianity. Grace involves the remission of sins, peace and a happy conscience. Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the law...the fact is the more a person seeks credit for himself by his own efforts, the deeper he goes into debt. Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God. In actual living, however it is not so easy to persuade oneself that by grace alone, in opposition to every other means, we obtain the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God.” Martin Luther

“His love is unfailing, His Word unchangeable, His power ever the same; therefore the heart that trusts Him is kept in ‘perfect peace’...I know He tries me only to increase my faith, and that it is all in love. Well, if He is glorified, I am content.” Hudson Taylor

“Hudson Taylor was an object lesson in quietness. He drew from the bank of heaven every farthing of his daily income – ‘My peace I give unto you.’ Whatever did not agitate the Saviour or ruffle His spirit, was not to agitate him. The serenity of the Lord Jesus concerning any matter, and at its most critical moment, was his ideal and practical possession. He knew nothing of rush or hurry, or quivering nerves or vexation of spirit. He knew that there is a peace passing all understanding and that he could not do without it...Christ his reason for peace, his power for calm. Dwelling in Christ, he drew upon His very being and resources, in the midst of and concerning the matters in question. And this he did by an attitude of faith as simple as it was continuous.” Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor

“All the commandments of God are commandments of love tending to our real good and great happiness; far from being grievous to those who have faith and love, the practice thereof is life and peace. The world may think it a grievous burden; but this is a great mistake indeed. Sin is grievous. In hatred, envy, anger, revenge, pride, there is nothing but torment and slavery; but in love there is a sweet rest and pleasure. Thus a sinner always punishes himself, and is robbed of great peace and blessing, by transgressing the commandments of God.” K. H. Von Bogatzky

“Peace is not found when you get into perfect circumstances. Peace is found because Jesus Christ, the Price of Peace, has gotten into you. Joy is the perfect partner to peace and is found in the same way as peace. Joy is never found in what you have or what you do, but in who you have living in you.” Roy Lessin

“However, faith has its trials, as well as its answers. It is not to be imagined that the man of faith, having pushed out from the shore of circumstances, finds it all smooth and easy sailing. By no means. Again and again, he is called to encounter rough sea and stormy skies; but it is all graciously designed to lead him into deeper and more matured experience of what God is to the heart that confides in Him. Were the sky always without a cloud and the ocean without a ripple, the believer would not know so well that God with Whom he has to do; for alas, we know how prone that heart is to mistake the peace of circumstances for the peace of God. When everything is going on smoothly and pleasantly—our property safe, our business prosperous, our children carrying themselves agreeably, our residence comfortable, our health excellent—everything in short, just to our mind, how apt we are to mistake the peace which reposes upon such circumstances for that peace which flows from the realized presence of Christ.” C.H. Mackintosh

“Before you can (know you are right with God) you must not only be troubled for your sins of your life, but also for the sins of your best duties and performances...before you can be at peace with God, there must be a deep conviction before you can be brought out of your self-righteousness; it is the last idol taken out of your heart. The pride of our heart will not let us submit to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But if you never felt that you had no righteousness of your own or if you never felt the deficiency of your own righteousness, you cannot come to Jesus Christ.” George Whitefield

“Now when a man has learned through the commandments to recognize his helplessness and is distressed about how he might satisfy the law...and then being truly humbled and reduced to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself nothing whereby he may be justified and saved. Here the second part of Scripture comes to our aid, namely, the promises of God which declare the glory of God, saying, ‘If you wish to fulfill the law....come, believe in Christ in whom grace, righteousness, peace, liberty, and all things are promised to you. If you believe you shall have all things; if you do not believe, you shall lack all things’.” Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty