Did this for AIM devotion a couple of weeks ago.. here goes..
PEACE
Definitions:
1.
A state of mutual harmony between people or
groups, esp. in personal relations: Try to live in peace with your neighbors.
2.
Cessation of or freedom from any strife or
dissension.
3.
Freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction,
anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquility; serenity
4.
A state of tranquility or serenity. May he rest
in peace.
5.
Obsolete. to be or become silent.
6.
At peace:
a.
untroubled; tranquil; content
b.
deceased
7.
Make one's peace with, to become reconciled
with: He repaired the fence he had broken and made his peace with the neighbor
on whose property it stood.
8.
Make peace, to ask for or arrange a cessation of
hostilities or antagonism.
“Shalom”, a Hebrew term that the Jews use as a common greeting/farewell.
One of the above definitions made me laugh a little, but
then I realized that in that phrase, there was truth in it under the obvious
that made me laugh. “May he rest in peace”. This is a term that people use to
bless the dead. But then I realized that, peace did kinda have to do with
death, per se. Death to your “old man”.
Peace is one of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in
Galatians 5:22-23
Vs.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The entire section of Galatians 5 from verse 16 til the end
is about Life by the Spirit. It speaks about the sinful nature versus life by
the Spirit. As verse 17 says, the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the
Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. So what is at the
essence of it is that that is a natural discord in ourselves from the moment
that we receive the Spirit into us, because what one wants, is not what the
other desires.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 9 altogether.
Against such things there IS no law. No law given to us can go against these values,
or what we bear when we have the Spirit in us. Therefore if we as Christians,
children of God bear with us these values in all that we do, the law will not
be able to convict us of any wrong. In vs 24 it says that those who belong to
Jesus have crucified the sinful nature, and when our “old man” has been put to
death, we are therefore at peace within ourselves.
Galatians 5:16 - 26
Life by the
Spirit
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify
the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful
nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary
to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not
do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under law. 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will
not inherit the kingdom
of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those
who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions
and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep
in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.
In the Bible, peace is mentioned many times. Our God is a
God of peace. In Isaiah 9, where he prophesies about the coming of the Messiah,
one of the names ascribed to Him is the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And in Isaiah 26:3, reading from the Contemporary English
Version cos it wasn’t all to clear to me when I first read it in the NIV. It
says, “The Lord gives perfect peace to those whose faith is firm”. The NIV
reads, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he
trusts in you”. We all know that God is a faithful God right? In 2nd Timothy 2:13 it says that “if we are faithless, he
will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”. It is the essence of God,
and therefore, if we trust in Him, if out faith in Him is firm, He will give us
perfect peace. Not jus peace, but PERFECT peace. Our God does things perfectly
rite? ;)
Today, the question that is posed is, “Where is your
peace?”. In what or whom can you find your peace? In Psalms 20:7, it reads,
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the
LORD our God.”. A similar sounding verse in Isaiah 31:1 reads. “Woe to those
who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude
of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look
to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD”. Woe be unto them, it
says. In those days, Egypt
was a reckoning force, one of the stronger countries in the ancient world,
chariots and horses signify strength, power, wealth. Trusting in material
things, in other people will not bring us peace, yet so many these days are
pre-occupied with attaining financial stability, or, the foundation to a good
career would be getting a degree from a prestigious university. We work our
hearts out to achieve these things with the hope that this will bring us a
sense of security, that it will bring peace to our hearts. But God says, “Woe
be unto them..”.
In Psalms 34:14 it tells us to seek peace and pursue it. Not
in the false sense of security that we think material possessions bring us, but
the peace that which the author of peace grants to us when we put our trust in
Him. The result of us putting our trust in God, makes us bear the fruit of the
Spirit.
Being children of God, followers of Christ, having the
perfect peace that God has given to us, the Bible exhorts us to bring peace to
all men. Like how in beauty pageants, the contestants are asked what they want
most for this world. The stereotype answer that has been popularized by the
movie Miss Congeniality, I want World Peace. Romans 12:18 tells us to live at
peace in as much as we can with each other. In Jesus’ famous sermon on the
mount in Matthew chapter 5, it says in verse 9, “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.”. This is one of the ways that people will
see God in us, when we bring peace, we show how God is to those that don’t know
Him.
Shalom people ;)
References:
Dictionary.com reference
Biblegateway
Strong's Topical Concordance
