Peace has become a recurring theme in my life for the last 6 weeks. In fact, 4 of my 6 classes deal with peace, violence, justice, conflict, reconciliation, and divided societies in some capacity or another. It's a hard semester - there's a lot of trying not to cry, trying not to throw my hands up and just walk away in frustration, trying not to become so cynical as to be completely ineffective, trying to avoid my tendency to over-simplify while simultaneously balance said tendency against a paralysis of any analysis at all. Between essays and classes, I'm examining theoretical approaches, four different regions/case studies, practical workshops, simulations, and expert interviews.
Amidst all this craziness, reading, and work, I'm trying to be "peaceful" myself. It's a tad overwhelming.
And I'm finding that it's far too easy to find myself trapped in a world where peace is the highest good. Where peace is the ultimate thing that I'm working for. Where my soul and my heart breaks for violence and anger because of the hurt that it causes, because of the people that it affects, and because of the stories it leaves in its wake.
But that's not the only reason violence and conflict should break me. I'm loosing my eternal, Kingdom perspective. It's an easy thing to do in this city, but that doesn't make it any more excusable, or any less devastating when you realize it's happening to you. I've turned peace into an idol - something that I hold as better than the goodness of God himself, something better than the presence of Christ in my life, than the indwelling of the Spirit in my soul, than the hope I have in heaven - not a hope of peace but a hope of God Almighty, perfect and holy.
This new kingdom includes peace, yes. Revelation 21:4 offers the promise of a new world, in which the "former things" have passed away. Isaiah, in chapter 9, tells us that Jesus is the "Prince of Peace", among other things. The character of Christ radiates peace, rules over peace, is manifest in peace, and advances peace. The Bible talks about peace a LOT - in fact, all of the New Testament epistles except one (1 John) mention peace and call the believers to it. Clearly it's important.
But (at the risk of sounding too "new-age-y"), the Bible is more concerned with "inner" peace than with worldly peace. When the Bible talks about peace, more often than not, it's referring to a peace with God. This is the most important kind of peace. This is a peace only achieved through the death and resurrection of Christ! Apart from Him, peace is impossible. And in Him is a peace that "surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:7). Without Him, external peace is useless. This is the mantra (one of many) that I have been preaching to myself as of late. I have found myself more often than not puling out my Bible in class to examine what Scripture tells me about the world, and about my place in it. And what is clear is that my mission is to love people well. Nothing else. It is not my job to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or to be some great negotiator. It's not even my job to be able to name the head of every nation in the world, or explain how globalized business dynamics are going to dominate the evolution of state relations for the next twenty years.
My job is two-fold: Love God. Love people. That's it.
I can only spread peace by firmly being grounded on my own peace with God, a bridge that was accomplished only through the cross and empty tomb. Even our sermon on Sunday highlighted this (in a sense) by discussing the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. The resurrection is beautiful not because it brings an end to conflict between people, but because it brings people into right communion with the one, true, living God, and only then does it transform people from the inside out! This is the most beautiful realization - the burden of peacemaking does not fall to me, but it falls to God himself, and it is a burden he has already taken up and carried!
Peacemaking is so much easier when I realize that it is something that has already been accomplished, and is being made manifest entirely apart from my broken heart or my feeble effort. I must rest in God, and allow Him to do the heavy lifting.
Which He does with gladness.
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