Is Peace the Absence of War?

 

Ephesians 2:14-16

What value do you put on peace, is peace the absence of war, or can you have peace in the middle of war?  What if the war is not going well, what if all around you is the loss of life?  Most American Christians have not been in the arm services, some have and some of them understand the horrors of war, the cost of life, the destruction to people and property.  Can a person who is experiencing this trauma have peace?

Each of us who are in Christ have a war going on for our hearts, it should not come as a surprise, but the normal Christian who goes to church on Sunday live their life as if they do not live in a war zone.  We are told in Ephesians chapter six to keep alert, what are we to be alert to; the schemes of the devil.  Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  When Jesus came into your life, it was an invasion of your flesh, he changed your heart, and if your heart did not change, He did not invade you, He did not give you a new heart.

John Eldridge states in “Waking the Dead” the following, Jesus said to them in the same breath, God meant life in the full for each of His kids, but it has to be fought for.  There is a thief and he comes to steal and kill and destroy.  We are at War.  The world in which we live is a combat zone, a violent clash of kingdoms, a bitter struggle unto the death.  You and I will live all our days in the midst of a great battle, involving all the force of heaven and hell and played out here on earth.”  The war is real, and it is not with two spirits living inside of you, that would be a civil war and Jesus made it clear in Matthew 12:25, that a person could not survive that.  The battle is against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Many in the church have no understanding of this battle, or the power of being in Christ.

Paul states in Ephesians 2:14-16, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”  Our peace will not be found in any of the gods we have run to, but Jesus tells us over and over that He is our peace, John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  Before returning to the Father, Jesus prayed; “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”  The answer my brother and sister is not blowing in the wind, the answer is Jesus Christ, His peace sustains us in the middle of this war.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice