The Lord is with us!

Peace.  It's something that is on the minds of a lot of Americans right now.  For some our involvement in the Middle East is about the promotion of our national interests and security and is a mission that promotes peace, if not in the short term, over a longer time frame.  For others, the activities we, through the extension of our government, particpate in shatter the very idea of peace both within the region and over the entire world community.  Whether you agree with one side of this debate or the other (or have a completely different view altogether) it is hard to deny the strong desire all parties have to find a long lasting and secure peace, one that upholds the dignity of all peoples who seek to participate in such peace in good faith.

But what is peace?  A student recently asked that question at one of our Bible studies.  Is it a sense of well being?  It is some sort of inner contentment (and thus a lot like joy)?  It is a lack of hostility and, if so, with whom: Ourselves, others, our culture, God?

To answer the question, I think that peace is all of those things and more.  Where does peace start?  For the Christian, I believe that peace or wholeness or wellness starts within our relationship with God.  I hear of a lot of Christains who seek peace through self-help books or seminars or all sorts of other external methods but who remain restless and frsutrated, even angry, in their lives.  I think that the path to true peace lies in fostering a true and healthy relationship with God.  Only then can we find the trust and faith required to not fear every twist adn turn of circumstance.

To the churches in the area around Ephesus, the apostle Paul wrote:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith?and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God?not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)?remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  

For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Eph 2:8-22)

Here we see the gift of Christ working at all levels to promote peace in our lives.  In His sacrifice on the Cross, the Savior destroys the "dividing wall of hostility" between individuals, between cultures and between humanity and God.  By becoming our peace, He is able to create an enviroment were the Spirit can dwell within each of us individually and within all of us corporately.   It is through Christ's death on the Cross, conquering our sin and death, that we can enter into a relationship with God; Father, Son and Spirit, that is not marred by inherent separation.

The question is whether or not we will choose to enter into this relationship.  We will set aside the time for stillness to seek the peace that comes from the Father?  Will we turn off our cell phones and tune out Sportscenter long enough to settle down and breathe the "Breath of Life"?  Can we stop overscheduling our lives so that we only give Him the spare minutes of our time instead of our firstfruits?  Will we make a place in our homes both physically and spiritually where we can meet the Lord in prayer and contemplation and find the peace He offers us?  Can we say "No!" to being indispensible and revelling in the urgency others bring into our lives?  Can we set aside the praise hymns and hand-clapping and "Awesome Amens!" long enough to be still and know...?

St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo wrote a prayer in the fourth century AD that I think speaks to this beautifully:

O Ominpotent God;
   who cares for each of us as if no one else existed
   and for all of us as if we were all but one!
Blessed is the person who loves You.
To You I entrust my whole being
   and all I have received from You.
You made me for yourself,
   and my heart is restless until it rests in You.

In Him,

Chad