Last week I indicated I’d post a bit on this subject. So . . . .
Peace — three definitions from Dictionary.com:
| 3. a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, esp. in personal relations: Try to live in peace with your neighbors.
6. freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity. 7. a state of tranquillity or serenity: May he rest in peace. |
All three of those sound so…peaceful:
- a state of mutual harmony
- freedom of the mind
- a state of tranquillity
Alas, the sample sentence for Number Seven could suggest that we only find such peace in death. 😯
How do we attain inner peace as well as peace in relationships?
Jesus “made peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20).
The wisdom from above “is first pure, then peaceable” (James 3:17).
Peacemaking in the church is an effort to rejoin that which has been severed. Thus peacemaking isn’t merely patching up our differences and settling our disagreements. Peacemaking is restoring our union.
To be at peace with God isn’t something so trite as “being on God’s good side.” To be at peace with God is to be one with Him! That doesn’t come through clearly in our English term peace as it surely did in their Greek term eirene. In hearing that word they may well have naturally thought of eiro, which is a verb — “to join.” From that it seems rational to conclude that peace results from and is the condition of being joined.
Peace be with you. Amen.