The Problem with Peace

Peace is a popular topic.

I mean, you can see why, right? Peace is like the cool dude of virtues, which is why it became a hand signal in the sixties.

Peace is a place we can all agree, a platform on which we can all stand and applaud speech after speech made in its honor.

Peace is a cup we can pass around at our end-of-day campfire while we tell stories about how we all arrived.

So, I hesitate to mention this. It might lose me my seat at tonight’s bonfire (or make me the fuel), but there’s a serious problem with peace.

It’s easy to counterfeit.

And the counterfeit is virtually undetectable.

We know this because we know, love, work with, and study with all kinds of peaceful people who haven’t a care in the world even though they deny the existence of God.

Of course, there are some who are faking it until they make it, but I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the ones who baffle us. The ones who are truly centered, grounded, focused, and whole. The people to whom we’re drawn because they have so much to offer. The ones who sometimes make us feel calm and we wonder how they do it without Jesus.

They’ve worked out a world view, a philosophy, a lifestyle on a very different matrix from ours and on this grid, they’ve located a quality they identify as peace, and so, they are peaceful. They explain to us that if we’d release our narrow view of the Jesus life, we too, could enjoy peace and be part of the process instead of the problem.

It sounds so beautiful and they build amazing campfires.

I was thinking about this when I was with two friends. One has an allergy attack. He’s miserable. His suffering is visible. Everyone can see he has a problem and he’s very uncomfortable and unhappy. But, allergy season will pass, and he will, again, enjoy health.

The other friend looks like the picture of health. He worked out this morning as he does every day. His diet is a model for others. He never misses work. He feels wonderful. He has cancer.

He will not recover from this cancer without enduring a long period of treatment that will make him extremely sick and uncomfortable.

Today, he is the picture of counterfeit peace. He looks fine, but he carries within him a death sentence that will detonate one day unless he is willing, now, to endure the discomfort of treatment. There is hope, of course, but only if he trusts the pronouncement of doctors who tell him he’s not fine despite how he feels.

Souls can enjoy a false peace this side of glory. It’s an amazing counterfeit because our enemy is an artist at reproduction. He cannot create, he can only copy. His work lacks depth and it doesn’t bear the mark of the Master.

We know the great Physician, who is the only One capable of knowing the true health of any soul.

That is our message – please be sure you’ve met with Jesus for a discussion about the state of your soul. Only He knows if you are truly centered for eternity or if, on a cellular level, your soul is set to self-destruct with a cancer that is only detectable by the Holy Spirit.

When they see you suffering, struggling, and offer you their counterfeit peace, assure them that your struggle with pass. You are simply allergic to the things of this world. And you have chosen to receive the treatment that result in true peace – which you have now by faith, but one day will see face to face. It awaits you at a distant campfire, but Jesus has gone before you to light it and shines, even now, for all to see.

Invite them into the discomfort that leads to genuine peace, and assure them, its worth the journey.

The problem with peace – yes, there’s a problem https://t.co/AzXqizhrzb #Jesus #Peace #peaceofmind #truepeace

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) October 17, 2018