We live in a time where peace seems to feel a little past tense. And though we may try to ‘keep the peace’, ‘come in peace’ or ‘fight for peace’, do we really know peace?
The first type of peace person is the peacekeeper. Peacekeepers strive to keep the peace, and that takes courage – to keep your cool, bite your tongue, to choose compromise over conflict. It’s peace, but it’s passive.
The second type of peace person gets a shout-out from Jesus during the greatest TED Talk in history: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’. These are the ones who don’t just ‘come in peace’, they fight for peace. They’re people who don’t settle for the surface level, but strive to reconcile, even when it hurts.
But no matter how much we strive to keep it or make it, we can only truly know peace if someone gives it. Peace cannot be bought, earned, or taken – it can only be received, from the only one who fully gives it.
Romans 5.8 says that ‘while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’. Or to paraphrase, ‘While we were rebels, he redeemed us; while we were bandits, he called us beloved.’
Peace is more than a feeling. It’s not quiet, because it transcends decibels. It is greater than anything life can throw at us and sometimes its presence in us just doesn’t make sense.
Peace is not just a feeling. To be at peace with God, through Christ, is a position. And when we embrace the reality of that position, that’s when we truly know what it is to feel peace.
This reflection was written by spoken word artist Dai Woolridge, who is a Bible Communicator and Creative Specialist at Bible Society.
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