What is Peace?
What is peace if it isn’t the absence of conflict?
Sometimes the peace of God doesn’t look as we think it should—at least not at the start.
Webster defines peace as:
- Freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.
- A state or period in which there is no war or war has ended.
As a result of this definition, we often dress peace as a kind of adornment we wear when all is going well—when our feelings or the state of things match up with ‘the way things should be.’
Sometimes, peace is genuinely that simple. Relaxing or enjoying a quiet moment makes way for peace flowing like a spring dress waving in a gentle breeze.
But when things are off-kilter—when our thoughts and feelings point to disarray and ‘unwellness’ in us, peace is left waiting on the hanger, while we stay tied up in knots.
Beyond the Absence of Conflict
Peace isn’t the absence of conflict any more than love is the absence of hate.
Jesus defines peace as the Presence of Himself.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus began with the beatitudes—those qualities and characteristics intended to dress a person whose life has been turned inside out, upside down, and submitted over to the plans and purposes of God.
None of those descriptives are possible apart from life with God. God’s blessing is what empowers anything that’s good in us. Poverty of spirit, grief, humility, mercy, justice, purity, and peace – they are all extensions of God’s movement toward us.
Peace isn’t something that randomly lands in our lap or gets summoned because we snap our fingers. It’s what comes to us as we move toward the One who gives peace.
Matthew 5:9 reminds us that God blesses those who work for peace. For they will be called children of God (NLT). The phrase “work for peace” is an active pursuit that requires tireless commitment to the Person of God.
When Jesus shared his Last Supper with the disciples, he warned them about difficulties to come. Relationships that would fracture. The world’s hatred that would fight against every fiber of their being. He cautioned them not to take lightly the meal before them as it symbolized a life of suffering that would follow them too.
Life with Jesus isn’t the absence of conflict. Rather, it’s a guarantee that conflict will come.
Similarly, peace isn’t the absence of conflict. Rather, it’s the welcome of God’s Presence in it.
Peace Comes From God, Not from the Absence of Conflict
Amidst the warnings, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, the Helper who would supply His peace when surrounded by conflict. Rather than erase conflict, Jesus proclaimed his authority over it.
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world (John 16:33, NLT).
It’s possible to wear peace in the midst of wrinkled clothes and tattered garments.
We can work toward peace when we experience things like:
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Grief and loss
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Disappointment
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Hurt inflicted by someone else
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A late-night argument that doesn’t make sense in the morning and leaves you tied in a knot.
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Or maybe we “went there,” but it wasn’t at all the Holy Spirit’s directing. And now it’s coming back to us in ways that keep us, and God’s peace, at arm’s length.
God’s peace comes to us when we put aside the things coming at us and make room for God to sit with us.
We become pursuers of peace when we stop getting tripped up by the world’s chaos—when we invite God to address the strife unraveling in us and around us.
Peace is pursued.
Peace is worked toward.
True peace is lived—in partnership with God who grants it as we place ourselves in His Presence.
Prayer for Peace
God of Peace-
Thank you Jesus for praying for my peace, knowing I would need it. Thank you Holy Spirit for prompting me to ask for Your peace, knowing when I don’t have it.
I confess too many times, even today already, that I have walked away from Your True Peace because it was easier than working toward it with You.
Loving God, fill me with Your Presence. Dress me with Your Peace that truly does pass understanding in the eyes of this world.
Through the Name of Your Son Jesus, I ask, Amen. So be it.