week 2: Joy/Peace
Wednesday
Peace is a Process
”Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. You know him,
for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:17
When we talk about peace, we have to recognize our understanding of peace is more clearly revealed through the acknowledgement of the antonym of peace, which is conflict. We hear all the time people saying “I don’t have peace about my relationship”, “I need to find more inner peace”, “I’m just not at peace with my body”, or “that person’s comment made me uneasy.” All of these statements are made because a person recognizes something isn’t right. At some level they have conflict going on in their minds pertaining to that situation and it is causing them to have a lack of peace. It makes sense they feel that way because as sinners we are constantly in conflict with one another and with our flesh. However, even more important than those conflicts is if God is in conflict with us. The process of true and lasting peace doesn’t come just from trying to spot treat all the little conflicts we have with each other and within our own minds, because on this earth there will always be conflict. The more important issue at hand is understanding what our standing is with God and if we are currently in conflict with Him or not. So, here is a short summary of where we started with God, where we currently are at, and where we will be in the future.
God created us (Genesis 1)
Humanity sinned against God (Ecclesiastes 7)
God Redeemed His adopted children through Jesus (John 3)
Those who are in Christ are now at peace with God through Jesus (Romans 5)
His adopted children are called to continue to pursue peace with God and with others as an act of worship until Jesus returns (Hebrews 12)
When Jesus returns we will be fully unified in body and soul to God and be freed of all other conflict for eternity (1 Corinthians 15)
From this we are able to see that those who are in Christ are currently at peace with God because Jesus redeemed us but not united with God yet. This is so important to realize because it is so easy to forget. It is easy to think you have lost your peace and need to find it again as if it is some scavenger hunt you are on. Yes, peace is a process, but a process God already did all the work on. If peace were a group project, we would be the group members who contributed nothing, but still got to reap all the benefits of the good grade. It is because of the work God already did on our behalf that we are able to have peace.
Because we are at peace with God through Jesus, the part of the story we find ourselves in until Jesus returns is about pursuing peace with God and with others until we are reunited to God. Let me be clear though, we are not called to pursue peace because if we don’t it will be lost. Again, God has already done that work for us. We are to pursue peace out of reverence towards God and out of a caring spirit towards others. And guess what? God has already provided very detailed notes in the Bible of how and why we are to pursue peace with him and others. Thank God that we do not have to figure out how to ultimately find peace because He not only gave us peace with Him, He gave us a great Book that shows the perfect model of peace and the ways we are to go about pursuing peacefulness with God and others.
So yes, peace is a process; a seemingly long and complicated process, but one that has been made simple for us because of Jesus’s love for us.
Questions to Ponder:
Does your soul feel at peace with God? If not, maybe talk to your CHM or a Christian friend about whether you feel in conflict with God because you are unsure if you are saved, or if you are lacking peace because you don’t exactly know if you trust God really is at peace with you.
What conflicts do you currently have in your life that you could be doing a better job at pursuing peace in the way God pursued peace with us?
Today’s Reading: