An act of true kindness.

In one of my regular e-mails - that have been sadly neglected over recent days - is the following report:

As Israeli soldiers continue with the military operation [Operation Brother's Keeper] in Judea and Samaria following the abduction of three Israeli teens, Israeli doctors of Save a Child's Heart (SACH) continue to save the lives of Palestinian children at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

Since the beginning of Operation Brother's Keeper, three Palestinian children have undergone life-saving heart surgery at Wolfson, eight Palestinian children were admitted, including two urgent cases brought by ambulances from Judea and Samaria and from Gaza, two children from the West Bank will undergo open heart surgery today at the hospital and fifteen children are expected to arrive today to the SACH free weekly cardiology clinic for Palestinian children.

The Israeli medical team of SACH is determined to continue with their activity without letting the situation around interfere or influence them. "Children are children"' says Dr. Lior Sasson, SACH chief surgeon, "for us it doesn't matter where the children come from, every child deserves to receive the best medical treatment and children. from both sides, should't be a part of the conflict".

Before entering the operating room this morning, Dr. Sasson said " We are continuing with our work, this is what distinguishes us as Israelis, the ability to ignore what is happening around and continue with our sacred work of saving children's lives".

This is, surely, an act of true kindness.  It is further evidence as to who are the real problem in the Middle East - and it is not the people of the modern state of Israel!  However, the title I typed in, a few minutes ago, was An act of grace.  There is, indeed, a sense in which that did not require the change that I then made.  So why did I make it?  Well, in my book Great Words of the Faith, there is a chapter on that word as well!  In that chapter, I use the well-known acronym: God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  That is true grace.  It is Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, Who is purity and sinlessness and, above all, love in His very Being providing, through the sacrifice of God the Son at Calvary, all that He is, to sinful creatures like you and me.  

I don't know how those Palestinian children, and their families, respond to the care and expert treatment that they receive at the hands of Israeli medical staff.  I do know that the only way to respond to the grace of God, in Christ, is to submit to His Lordship in our lives.

I've done that  - have you?

A Fair Umpire

I receive a number of devotional items on a regular basis.  The following arrived in my Inbox today, and I believe that it is worth sharing.

“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful” (Col.3:15)

The Greek word translated rule in this verse means "to umpire." The apostle Paul says that we should let the peace of Christ be the umpire in our lives. An umpire keeps the peace. He makes sure the game is played in a smooth and orderly fashion. God wants to give us an internal umpire who will keep us at peace even when everything seems chaotic.

Only as we submit to Christ's control and authority can we experience spiritual peace. We may think all we need to do is to get away, but that is not true. We can't run away to get peace. It won't come from divorcing our spouse, giving our children up for adoption, changing jobs, or living as a hermit on the backside of nowhere. Only when we submit our internal world to the Lordship of Christ will we experience peace.

If we really want God's peace, we should ask for it. A psychiatrist was quoted in a newspaper as saying that he could not improve upon the apostle Paul's prescription for human worry. Paul wrote, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7). Notice the order: first prayer and then peace. A cause-and-effect relationship exists in this prescription. Prayer is the cause; peace is the effect.

If you and I are not praying, we're likely to be worrying. And worry is such a useless emotion and activity. Worry is the opposite of peace; they cannot coexist. Worry, like a pressure cooker, builds up our internal pressure with negative emotions and concerns. Prayer, on the other hand, functions like a safety valve. When life's stresses become too great and we feel like we are about to explode, prayer releases the stress and frustration. Everyone needs an unconditional listener to unload on, and a fair umpire to call the game. In God we have the perfect embodiment of both roles. We can dump on Him and know that He will not get stressed out by what we tell Him. We can be confident that He will bring order and calm to our daily lives.

Tyndale House Publishers © 2011  (slightly amended).