The Peace Path—Are You On It?
For hundreds and thousands of years, from his days in the jungle to his days in the city, men and nations have been on a search for peace—peace for themselves, peace for their children, and peace for all mankind. The peace they’ve been searching for, though, they have scarcely ever found—despite all the self-help books!
They have thronged the offices of psychiatrists by the multiplied millions, gulping down Prozac, Paxil, and what is much more difficult to swallow—Freud! But all to no avail.
The search for personal peace didn’t have its genesis in the modern West, as some have postulated. Documenting this fact, University of Glasgow Professor William Barclay wrote: “Justyn Martyr, one of the greatest of the second-century fathers, tells how he wandered from philosophy to philosophy until he finally found the elusive secret of peace in Christianity.”
Apparently, even for those in the ancient, pre-industrial, pre-technological world, the longings for peace, and the arduous search to find it, were both personal and painful.
The Bible actually speaks of three types of peace.
First, there is what Romans 5:1 calls “peace with God.” This is the most important peace of all, salvation peace, because prior to our salvation we were on a collision course with God.
It was not until the Holy Spirit appealed to our hearts that we did a spiritual U-turn, which is exactly what the word “repent” means: to turn around, to reverse our course, to go the opposite way. This repentance enabled the Lord’s salvation peace to become irrevocably ours.
Second, there is the “peace of God,” spoken of in Philippians 4:7. This refers to that inner serenity of soul, that elevating elation of spirit, which—even in the midst of challenge, chaos, or corruption—infuses us with its tranquility.
Although this isn’t the most important kind of peace, this is the peace that the world has been so desperate to find. But it is also the peace most Christians don't have.
Third, there is what Ephesians 2:14 describes, peace with one another. This is the peace that unites former enemies—not in an uneasy truce, but in a camaraderie that is only possible through Christ.
Because relationships are as important as they are to our happiness, and because these relationships can be difficult to sustain in a satisfactory way, this particular peace is of extraordinary value.
As you consider these three types of peace, would you say that you’re on the peace path? Or did you get offtrack a while back?
One literal meaning of the word peace is to bind, to come together, to be cohesive, to have a seamless integrity.
The opposite to this is to come apart, to be fragmented, disjointed, broken, inwardly divided.
As you contemplate these two lists of descriptors, which list better describes you?
Very likely, specific thoughts are starting to bubble up right now. Don't cut this off and escape into your day. Let this happen. Ask the Spirit of God to put on your heart that episode, that memory, that person in need of your attention — and God's reflection.
Peace!
