Immoderate Commands, Immoderate Promises

Here are two benedictions which we find at the end of
letters in the Bible.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all
times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you” (2 Thess. 3:16).

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal
covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the
sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us
what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:20-21).

Please look at every phrase, for I will not comment on all
of them. Notice “at all times and in every way” and “everything
good for doing his will.” The God of peace does a thorough work in us.

Recently* I have been conscious of the lack of moderate
commands in the Scriptures. During the same period of time, I have noticed many
Christians moderating these commands. The commands are so extreme, we think we
have to run them through a transformer or a reduction gear to bring them down
to our size so we can consider the possibility of obeying them. This is not
honest nor necessary. There are also immoderate promises like the ones
quoted above. This is the way we can obey the immoderate commands.

*Written June 1999.

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