Living At Peace In A Troubled World

"Today's Devotion" For September 22, 2005

Read: I Thessalonians 4:1-12; Romans 12:9-21

LIVING AT PEACE IN A TROUBLED WORLD

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Rom.12:18)

From the earliest British settlements in the "New World," our predecessors in the original colonies were fighting for their lives. There was the constant battle to live in a hostile environment. White, European settlers were encroaching on land that had belonged to the various native peoples for thousands of years before they came - and there was conflict and war. Two European powers brought their battles to these shores during The French and Indian War. Then came the American Revolution in 1776 and there's been hardly a moment of peace ever since. After the Revolution our ancestors faced the Barbary Coast Pirates. Then the British returned in 1812. Constant "Indian" wars sprang up as the population marched ever westward and displacement of Native Americans took place. The 1860's brought to a head the war over the issue of slavery with the secession of the South from the Union and the Civil War that ensued. Before the end of the 19th century American forces would be involved in the Boxer Rebellion in China and skirmishes in the Caribbean.

To start the 20th century, war was in the wind. The sinking of the USS Maine in Cuba started the Spanish-American War. Not so many years later, during the troubling summer of 1914 in the Balkans, Archduke Ferdinand of Germany was assassinated on the streets of Sarajevo. This was the ignition switch for "the war to end all wars." World War I was expected to last "a year," and instead was fought to a bloody standstill over four long years. From 1918 on numerous skirmishes, bush wars, and other conflicts continued to plague the world. The Empire of Japan had been fighting with the Soviet Union over ownership of islands and were trying to overthrow the government of Chang Kai-Chek and annex China. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and later formed an alliance with Italy and Japan, World War II ensued and would last for almost six bloody, destructive years. In the 1950's the Korean peninsula erupted with the invasion of the South by the North. The Cold War ensued as the growing conflict between communist ideology and democracy opened the door massive distrust among the nations of the world, leading to nuclear proliferation, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the "War" in Vietnam, and scores of other smaller, but deadly "brush fire" wars around the globe. Since the end of the Vietnam conflict military conflicts have arisen - to name just a few - in Grenada, the Congo and other areas of Africa, in Cambodia (now Kampuchea), Laos, Iraq and Iran, the Philippines, Kuwait, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Yes, this is a long history lesson. Why? Because when it comes to the ability to live in peace with everyone, human beings are naturally ill inclined to do so. Somebody, somewhere, is always at odds with someone else and willing to "shoot to kill" in order to make their case, win their point, or take control. The list above is not complete. There have been numerous other military encounters that occurred around the world during the last century and into this century. We don't live in a peaceful world. We don't even have to leave home to prove this as we view the daily news and hear about the murders and mayhem that are being committed on our own streets, in our own neighborhoods.

Is there any doubt in your mind that, if we all had a choice, we'd all choose to live in a world without conflict of any kind? In reality, however, it's very clear that such is not to be, despite our fondest hopes and dreams for a utopian world. The power of Sin in the world and how it affects people makes that very clear. Because of Sin's influence on us we find it difficult to live without conflict within our own families and among our friends and neighbors. Even churches have conflicts - and often don't resolve them very well at all. It's the old battle between our own nature and will and God's Will for our lives. Ultimately, we can't divorce the spiritual from the whole concept of peace because conflict is, at its core, a spiritual problem and real peace depends on God. In the end, living at peace with others isn't easy, despite the best efforts of well-meaning men and women.

With its "track record," it's unlikely that the world is going to be at peace anytime soon. It would probably also be a "safe bet" that people aren't going to start getting along much better in the foreseeable future. Yet, with the Holy Spirit's urging, St. Paul encourages us to "live at peace with everyone." As God has called us to be His very own and established His peace with us so we might know His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness through Christ Jesus, so also does He urge us to share that same peace with everyone. Because we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ we have the great honor of being instruments of His peace in a troubled world. When we are at peace in Him, we can live lives that are peaceable and quiet. Our lives become examples to others so that they might see Jesus in us and come to know God's peace for their own live - a peace which overcomes the world and all its conflicts. We are at peace with God through Christ our Lord. That's a given. Of this we can be certain. In His peace then, despite the fact that the world is not very peaceful, we strive to "live at peace with everyone" and so share God's peace in a troubled world.

Prayer: Father, it sure would be marvelous if human beings could live in peace with everyone. I know that I'm often not even at peace with myself, so I'm pretty certain that I'm not going to find it very easy to live at peace with others. You have given me Your peace in Jesus Christ, yet I still often treat you as my enemy instead of my loving Father. The wars going on around the world only serve to bring light to the spiritual warfare that's constantly raging behind the scenes. Father, I pray for this world and ask that You would send Your Spirit in abundant measure to every human being so that they might know Your love and peace, and, knowing Your peace, seek to live at peace with each other. Father, I pray also that You would begin with me, helping me to grow in Your grace and peace so that I might live at peace with others as a true witness of Your love for me and the world in Jesus. I pray this in His precious and most holy name. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright @2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved