This week’s devotion is entitled, “What on Earth Is the Peace of Christ?” and is written by J.D. Walt. J.D. Walt is the executive director of Seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages your faith.
COLOSSIANS 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
CONSIDER THIS
Question for you: What is the “peace of Christ”? What on earth does this mean? Like many of you, I’ve been in a lot of church services where people walk around saying “Peace,” to one another and shaking hands. Surely that can’t be it! It’s another one of those motions disconnected from the movement. Is the peace of Christ a feeling or a mood or a soft sentiment or is it something more firm and tangible?
On the night before Jesus gave himself up for us, he said this to his disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
We hear a lot these days about “peace through strength.” I think they heard it a lot back in those days too. It was called the Pax Romana—the Peace of Rome. The Peace of Christ was something altogether different.
The lordship of Caesar guaranteed the Peace of Rome through the strength of military might. The lordship of Jesus stood in direct contrast, a crucified king raised from the dead. The peace of Christ is an unshakable peace that comes through apparent weakness, won through death and resurrection. It is the bond formed in a group of people who have given up on the kingdoms of this world and taken up the way of the cross. The peace of Christ is the peace of the cross, a place of unbridled chaos and unutterable pain intersected with the complete reverse of resurrection.
Peace through weakness. It’s what a lot of us need right now, because our strength has failed. We need to lean into a community of peace; people who get the mysterious reality of death and resurrection because they have lived through it. We need the kind of peace the world can’t give us. We need the peace of Christ. We don’t need someone speaking mindless religious words to us. We need someone to embrace us, chaos and all, and not let go when the embrace is over.
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
It better be more than that, church.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Real Peace. Domino #3/15 will be our sign.
THE PRAYER
Abba Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, who is our peace. In the midst of the complex chaos that swirls in my life, where solutions are nonexistent, I desperately need the peace of Jesus. I need this peace to rule in my heart. Come, Holy Spirit, and fill me with this peace, and make me a bearer of it to others. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
Have you ever wondered what the peace of Christ is? How do you describe it?
Is your heart troubled by the chaos swarming around you? What would peace look and feel like to you?
What does your synthetic or artificial or counterfeit peace look like? What do you turn to instead of the peace of Christ?
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