Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Peace Be With You

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit,
 singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:15-17 NIV

As followers of the way we are called to peace. Radical and obedient peace. I find this extremely difficult because along with peace one can easily extrapolate that rest is part of this as a byproduct of peace. I will go as far as to say that peace and rest go hand in hand and you really cannot have one without the other.

We often hear people talking about the hard-fought peace. Men went to war and died for peace. We put our resources and lives on the line for peace, we fight for it. This is the peace of the world. Jesus states in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid.” A heart that is at peace is a heart that rests. A heart that is at rest is a heart that can be thankful.

Gratitude comes up two different times in this short passage in Colossians and I believe it is the lynchpin for this section of scripture. A heart that aims at gratitude is a heart that can be at peace because it knows that God is the author and the giver of all that is. Rest is then a logical outcome of realizing that all that you have is from God and that we need not fight for it – we must only receive it.

I have been struggling with resting lately. Everything in the world tells us to fight. Politics, religion, education, our daily commute ad  infinitum. This is birthed in the old man mindset of duality. Right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, Christian against heathen etcetera. Duality of mind is a divided mind, and we are reminded in Colossians to put on the mind of Christ. Christ prayed in John 17 that we may be unified as He is unified with the father. How does one walk in unity? Peace. Walk in the bonds of peace.

History is replete with war. One nation bombs another, the other retaliates with a bigger bomb, the other gets allies with bigger bombs and the cycle is endless. This is true of any cycle, war is just a big example. But, what if one of the parties says ENOUGH ALREADY, we are not going to retaliate. What then? Will the other nation continue? Possibly. Over time though what happens when one does not fight back? The eventual outcome is peace.

God is so big on peace and rest because it puts us in a place to receive our security not from living in the biggest house, or the biggest nation, but from Him. As I write this God is showing me so many places that I still do not rest in him. I know not what to do except to “count my blessings, name them one-by-one. Stop and let me see what the Lord has done.”

Gratitude truly is an attitude. It is one that must be cultivated like any attitude. Amid the suck, find something to be thankful for. At the top of the mountain, find something to be thankful for. Do it again and again and the peace that passes all understanding and the rest that comes in that will be in your heart.

~Selah



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