Settle down. These are words children hear as they leap around the house in anticipation of presents, cookies, parties, and celebrating. They are also words many of us adults need to hear.
Settle down. Take a rest. Be at peace. Don’t rush so much. More than that, though: be settled in your soul with the Lord.
We all have a debt to settle. We all have ways that we’re falling short and we need to settle up with those we disappoint, fail, or hurt. But we don’t like to feel like we’re settling for less than the best.
And good news, in Christ, we’re not.
Settling is a synonym for resolving or reconciling. To settle down is to resolve a flurry of chaos and be at peace. Settling in is the reconciling of one’s ideas with one’s reality. To settle for something is to resolve to accept it as is -that’s what Christ made possible for us before the Lord.
In Jesus coming as a baby, God settled things. He launched a major part of his plan:
“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”
-2 Corinthians 5:19
The little baby in the manger came to settle our unrighteousness with God eternally. Our debt is settled. The sinfulness keeping us from God is settled. And He came to settle our hearts. In the process, He’s settled in…
“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”
–Ephesians 3:17
We don’t have to live hurried or worried that things will be less than God’s best –the matter is settled. We can settle down and settle into peace with Him.
Behold, the status of the saved: settled with God.
Behold, the settling down of our restless hearts when we embrace His gift.
Behold, the one won’t settle for less than is perfect(ly in His will!)