BY GREG CRUM

“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” Psalm 34:11-14

Do you want peace badly enough in your life that you’re willing to chase it? Some people talk of wanting to live a tranquil life, but instead of pursuing peace, they run to every four-alarm fire their life offers. As long as we are more entertained by the drama of life than by the principles of the Lord, we will always struggle to live carefree. 

Last week we began to think about what it takes to qualify for a life full of “good days.” We said that God wants us to have not just good days but great ones, yet in order for us to see the reality of His desire for us, we must cooperate with Him by following His Word.

In Psalm 34 and again in I Peter 3, we see that in order to enjoy a life of peace and prosperity (spirit, soul and body), there are some pretty specific instructions we are to adhere to. Namely we are to keep our tongues from evil speech and our feet from evil paths. 

Now, last week we left off noting what the Bible said about the power of our words and their correlation to the quality of our days. The book of Proverbs is full of warnings to keep guard over what we allow to come out of our mouths—there’s life and death there, remember! Proverbs 21:23 in particular tells us that if we’ll keep our tongue, we’ll keep ourselves out of trouble. What’s more, James 1:19-20 declares that we should be “swift to hear” but “slow to speak.”

There’s a reason for that, folks. Our words can get us into a mess quickly, so when in doubt the safest route is to keep our thoughts to ourselves and save our words for times of personal prayer with the Lord. 

So keeping a tight rein on the fruit of our lips is one important aspect for seeing better days in our future, but that’s only part of the equation mentioned in the Scriptures. The other important ingredient to seeing good days is endeavoring to keep ourselves from the evil around us. Now, some would be quick to proclaim that they think no evil, speak no evil, do no evil, yet they still struggle in their daily life.

Well, little monkey, what about all that family and friend drama you involve yourself in? You do realize that “…where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work,” right? (James 3:16)

Some don’t look at the day-to-day fuss-fest we can engage in as all that bad, but it is, especially in the Lord’s eyes. In Proverbs 6:19 we see that one of the seven things the Lord hates is “he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Drama, strife, contention, whatever name you want to give it, is an open door to all kinds of evil; it’s a dam waiting to bust, and because of that, the Lord warns us time and again to steer clear of drama in our lives.

Friends, if you want to live a peaceful life, you are going to have to resolve not to be the straw that stirs up trouble. Don’t be a fire starter, and don’t fan the flames of contention in your family and among your friends! 

Brothers and sisters, I Peter 3 and Psalm 34 both seem to indicate that, as believers, we get what we allow ourselves to gravitate toward.

Those who allow themselves to gravitate toward turmoil, fuss, and drama receive the mess that is always the end result of what those things reproduce.

Those drawn toward the high road and following God’s plan receive a life of mostly good days – without the “excitement” that comes from hurt feelings and relationships wounded and lost.

Let’s purpose to see better days in our future by pursuing peace in our todays!

Greg Crum is pastor of Calvary Temple Church of Lovely.