Living in the light of PEACE
I passed a sign recently that said, “No God, No Peace. Know God, Know Peace.” It’s cute, but I wondered how many people might feel as though they know God but still don’t know peace. My bet is quite a few.
It seems we live with much more wrestling than peace, struggling with sleepless nights, malaise, and various mental health challenges. This wrestle makes sense. As individuals, we are aware of our inadequacies and shortcomings but are afraid to acknowledge them. Throughout the world, injustice goes unchecked, so we naturally wonder when that might be true for us. Finally, life is threatened by death–not just physical life but relational, financial, political, and environmental. This reality can leave us knowing God but not knowing peace.
Advent reminds us that though we are waiting for God’s future of peace, peace has come in the person of Christ and will come again. Until then, we choose to live in the light of that future and can experience peace now.
Rest in God’s restoration
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. (Isaiah 11:1)
This prophecy from Isaiah is amusing because it depicts Israel as a stump. You know, like the one in your yard that sits there after you cut down a dead tree because you don’t have an excavator to dig it out. The great family tree of King David (Jesse is David’s father) has become a seemingly dead stump. Can’t our life and world sometimes feel like a dead stump? But out of this dead stump, a shoot shall come out that will bring peace. Not just the inner-peace kind of peace but the whole world set right sort of peace. The human situation seems hopeless, but God brings hope.
We can experience peace by resting in God’s capability for restoration instead of our incapability. We do a lot of striving, trying to make everything happen just right. Meanwhile, we know if it’s purely up to us, we don’t have all that it takes– there’s no peace in that. But choosing to be faithful and relying on God’s ability to bring restoration makes peace accessible.
Trust that justice will rule
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. (IaIh 11:4)
Super slow motion has changed the way sports are officiated. It catches those moments when athletes embellish a foul by groaning and flailing. The referee might have seen and heard a foul only to discover on the replay that contact was not made. Isaiah is painting a vision in which wrongdoers don’t get away with their infractions just because they appear right. Justice, not injustice, will be the final rule.
The promise of justice sustains us as we seek peace in an unjust world. If peace and justice will one day reign, then we are empowered to seek peace in our spheres in anticipation of that future. This pursuit of peace can take many forms and can be as simple as offering kindness to the lonely or working more formally to change systems of injustice. How might you seek peace in your spheres? You will find that as you seek peace for others you will experience greater peace yourself.
Conspire against death’s reign
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them…They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6,9)
The world we live in now has uncertainty with the threat of a negative outcome. My friend knows the anxiety of this every time he gets a scan to make sure his cancer is still in remission. Isaiah shares a vision of the future in which creation is absent death, destruction, and division. This future reminds us that death in all its forms is not how things are to be; it is a cancer and shadow of the good.
So how shall we respond? By conspiring against death through the celebration of life. Each moment of laughter, act of kindness, and joyful gathering is us resonating with the true and real creation that God created and will restore–there will be no more hurt or destruction. So be sure to laugh loud, be merry, and be filled with wonder this Christmas season. Each time you do you conspire against death and share peace with the world.
