Striving for Peace
March 4, 2021
I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 NLT
Back when world culture was such that beauty pageants were big deals, a joke evolved about the comments of the beautiful young women contestants. When the contestants were narrowed to the finalists and they were down to the evaluation that was intended to show their intelligence and heart, they would typically be asked some form of this question: “If you could do one thing and be sure you would succeed, what would it be?”
In every pageant, at least one contestant would smile perfectly and say, “I would work for world peace.” The subsequent joke that would run the circuit was, “What am I doing? Oh, I’m just over here working for world peace.”
The humor was in the fact that world peace is a huge deal. It gives a nice warm fuzzy feeling to say it, but it doesn’t come from one person; peace starts somewhere else. Yet all of us have a desire for peace. The Nines among us have a great desire. They are natural peacemakers who work to resolve conflicts by consensus and valuing everyone and their opinions. They are not easily offended and are composed and patient. They do try to meet their own attempt for power and control with an internal stubbornness. They feel they need to be calm and go-along to get-along. They tend to block out anything that destroys their sense of comfort and peace. They fear being invisible and insignificant and can allow hidden anger to become passive-aggressive.
How do we find peace in a world of very different people? Certainly not by holing up and shoving down who we really are. Jesus tells all of us, every single personality type He made, that HE and HE ALONE is the source of peace. When we honestly come to Him in surrender and choose to work with Him, He gives us peace. He will help us learn to discover our own voice and give us the courage to use it appropriately. We will learn that we can connect without complete agreement. We don’t have to lose peace over our differences. As we receive and learn to live in His peace, we can be agents of reconciliation, offering a calming presence in a world of turmoil. We can even embrace conflict as the means of growth God intends it to be. As we allow God’s transforming grace to lead us to our authentic selves, we will be able to reflect God’s authentic peace from the inside out and help bring unity to His people.
- Peace doesn’t come from “stuffing” ourselves or overpowering someone else. It comes from shifting my focus from “peacemaking” at any cost to becoming at peace with God and myself. He will then lead me to authentic, satisfying connections with diverse people where we all have a voice. Help me choose that path consistently, Lord Jesus.