Peace? Division? What's Up With That?

"Today's Devotion" For October 18, 2005

Read: Luke 12:49-53; Isaiah 9:1-7

PEACE? DIVISION? WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division."(Lk.12:51)

If you read today's Scriptures before reading this devotion are you scratching your head? After reading today's Scripture readings, no one could blame you if you weren't just a bit confused. After all, while on the one hand Isaiah portrays the promised Messiah, the anointed one of God, as the "Prince of Peace," Luke quotes Jesus as saying that He, as the promised Messiah, didn't come to bring peace but division. Just what does Jesus mean by this, because it doesn't make sense to talk of peace in the same breath as talking about causing division?

Our Lord isn't, however, talking about peace as we human beings understand it. He's not talking about a cessation of war. Instead, He's pointing to the fact that humanity is at odds with God because of Sin. There's a wall of separation that keeps people from truly knowing God's love, grace, and mercy or appreciating His many blessings that He showers upon the earth every day. In His infinite love and wisdom, therefore, our Father in heaven determined to bring people into a loving relationship with Him, filled with His peace and joy. Yet, sadly, too many people aren't willing to take God at His Word and they miss the peace and joy of a forgiven, redeemed, and restored relationship with Him.

Yet, for those of us who do know God's forgiveness in Christ, who have received Jesus into our hearts and lives so that we might know God's peace and joy, peace with the world around us is a fleeting and, perhaps, an impossibility. For to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior from Sin, puts us at odds with the majority of people in the world. The message of the Cross is that God alone can save us. Yet, as St. Paul notes in I Corinthians 2, the whole message of the Cross is "foolishness" to the world. For us to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News that by faith in Christ alone people are saved from their sins, receive God's forgiveness, and are assured of eternal life in heaven, is to put ourselves at odds with the world. When we proclaim that Jesus is the only way into the Father's kingdom, we end up being at odds with the world which holds that there are many ways to heaven and different approaches to God's grace.

In truth, our faith in Jesus Christ sets us apart from the world. As disciples who have been restored to their Father in Heaven, we seek to share God's peace with the world. Our sharing Jesus will meet with resistance, no matter how hard we try to avoid it. While we might be divided from the world because we follow Jesus, yet in Him, by faith, our relationship with God, destroyed by Sin, is restored. Isaiah's picture of the "Prince of Peace" is one that conveys to God's children the marvelous blessing that Jesus has broken down the wall of separation that Sin places between Man and God. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. While this may divide us from the world and its many "approaches" to God, God's peace in Christ brings us His forgiveness and the assurance of eternal life with Christ in heaven. Faith may divide God's people from the world, and, at times this might even include close family and friends, but it unites us with Christ and puts us in the palm of our heavenly Father's hand.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for making me Your very own child, wiping away the stain of my sin through the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross. You have called me to You by the power of Your Word and Spirit so that I might know Your love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness in Jesus. You give me hope so that I might live a full life in the midst of a world often gone mad with hatred toward You and its own "paths" to You. Through the precious blood of Jesus shed on the Cross You have washed me clean from my sins and have set me apart from the world. Help me to live a life that truly reflects that "division," so that I might be an effective, loving, and courageous witness of Your love and forgiveness in Jesus. Let all I do and say be a witness to Your grace and mercy, no matter what troubles may come my way because I am your child. Let Your peace dwell richly in me so that I may live a confident, faith-filled life for Jesus; in Whose precious and most holy name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

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