At this particular time of year we hear a great deal said about “peace.” It seems that during the holiday season we bemoan a lack of peace in the world more than do we at any other time of the year. During the spring season when the religious world celebrates the holiday they call Easter, one rarely hears or reads sermons on this subject; however, during the season that is rapidly becoming known as the season of epiphany, we hear and read homily after homily on the subject of peace. Please do not misunderstand; we are not opposed to preaching on the subject of peace. We are not opposed to preachers telling the world that it should learn to live in peace and harmony on this earth. That is certainly true, and it is an ideal toward which all will strive so long as men live on the earth, but that will never be attained because men have been killing one another since Cain slew his brother Abel thousands of years ago. Political peace forced upon people will last only so long as the force is strong enough to cause it to last, and when that force weakens, war will return once again. We cite the middle east as an example of this.
However, there is another kind of peace that can, when truly and sufficiently spread to all the world, bring the world peace because there will be no desire for vengeance, war or domination of others through political or military might. This is the peace that we read about in the pages of the New Testament of our Lord. So far as this writer is able to tell, this kind of peace always comes from the same Greek word in the New Testament and has reference to the inner peace that comes to a person who knows that he is a true child of God, or a Christian. It is a peace that is born of love and faith that causes one to love even his enemies, if such he has. This kind of peace is that of which the apostle Paul spoke as being that which “passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). It is the peace that was brought into the world by the Prince of Peace of whom the great prophet spoke (Isaiah 9:6). It is a peace that only God could conceive and only Christ could bring to men. It is an active goodwill toward all that is the natural outgrowth of agape love.
When heart by heart, we surrender to the will of Christ and come to truly accept him as our Messiah and Lord, we will know this peace, though we may not be able to put it into words. It is more than an absence of hatred, ill-will and contempt; it is a positive goodwill toward all. The world does not have this peace for at least two reasons: (1) It does not understand it because the world does not know what it means to live with an inward peace and tranquility that fears nothing, including death. The world is afraid of death and the Judgment. Christians, on the other hand, welcome both because they are borne up by an unfaltering trust in the Lord who is the Master of death. (2) Satan has taught the world that being angry and hate-filled regarding something is the way to live. For example, there are those who are so opposed to abortion (a form of murder) that they will murder the medical personnel who perform such. They never see the incongruity of what they are doing, and thus they claim to be martyrs on behalf of unborn children. It is the old theory that two wrongs can make a right, and the end does justify the means! However, the attitude, like that of racism, etc., is born from a total lack of peace in the inward man.
Christians should not buy into the world’s way of thinking. We should follow the way of our Savior, who while on the cross, prayed for his enemies. We should demonstrate that we have and love the peace that passes all understanding, and because we have it, it is unnecessary for us to be the enemies of any man. Incidentally, Christians can take part in punishing evil without ever hating a person or considering him our personal enemy. God gave us that right in Romans 13:1-7.
