Peace

February 1

Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. Ronald Reagan

My Grandfather had another view of peace. He didn't have quite as optimistic view of man's ability to handle his differences amicably. Grandpa said, "Two rats can't live in the same hole."

Each of us comes to a point in our lives, sooner or later, when we have to decide which philosophy we will espouse, that of President Reagan or that of my Grandfather. Will we govern ourselves in such a way as to disagree agreeably or will we fight tooth and nail to have our way? Will we be able to reconcile our differences sufficiently to co-habit the planet with those whose values and goals are far different than our own or will there be war? Will we be able to employ tact and grace to our personal differences and enjoy relative harmony with those who have pit themselves against us, or must we retaliate and thereby succumb to conflict?

Because worldviews are not always ideologically compatible, the best efforts of men of peace have almost universally come ultimately to war. The conflicts between individuals can come to a better resolution--but only if the Prince of Peace is a component of their uneasy truce. Jesus can make a way where there is no way because Jesus can cause even a believer's enemies to "dwell in peace with him," Proverbs 16:7. With Jesus in our heart, we can shed the light of His love and truth and forgiveness and power into the day-to-day circumstances we face. We can be as 'oil' that smooths over the rough places rather than like 'sand' which causes friction.

So to answer the question of whose approach, whose philosophy do we espouse--that of Grandpa or that of President Reagan--we must factor in the degree to which the parties involved have yielded themselves to Jesus. If they reserve the inner-most essence of their self-hood to their own control, their own emotions, their own methods, they will invariably come to conflict just as Grandpa said. If they surrender the inner-most essence of their self-hood to Jesus' control, to His will, to His way, they will come to the peace of Jesus that "passes all understanding!" and it will “keep their hearts and their minds in Him,” as Philippians 4:7 says it will.

They will be oil, not sand; they will be the blessed "peacemakers" who shall be called the sons of God (Matthew 5:8) and who shall see God move in their circumstances to bring down the work of the enemy which is bitterness and unforgiveness and self-righteousness and legalism and conflict. We shall instead see the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) which reflect the presence and power of God.