We live in a world filled with prejudice and injustice against people who do not hold the same beliefs or practice the same traditions as others. Our culture and family heritage affect the formation of our belief system which is foundational to our secular or biblical worldview. It is doubly hurtful when those prejudices come from the very ones who are professing followers of Jesus Christ. It can actually create a barrier that prevents people from coming to know the LORD. Think about all the religious wars we have had down through the ages. So, how do we promote peace and make a difference for Christ in our world? How do we break down those walls that divide us?
The truth is – Christ is our peace, and He shattered all those dividing walls when He died on the cross. “For at that time you were separated from Christ, foreigners to the people of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away from God have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace. He made the two one. By his flesh he destroyed the wall of hostility that divided us. That is, he abolished the law of commandments and regulations so that he might create one new man in himself, and so making peace. Christ reconciles both peoples into one body to God through the cross, putting to death the hostility. Jesus came and proclaimed peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Jesus we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:12–18 ULB). Praise be to God!
“The Lord gives His people strength; the Lord blesses His people with peace” (Ps 29:11 HCSB). Jesus explains to His disciples on that last night before He went to the cross that He gives us peace, but it’s different than the peace that the world gives. Jesus proclaims, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful” (John 14:27 HCSB). Do not trust the world’s peace, for the “wise men have rejected what I say, and so they have no wisdom…they won’t know what to do…Everyone is greedy and dishonest, whether poor or rich. Even the prophets and priests cannot be trusted. All they ever offer to my deeply wounded people are empty hopes for peace” (Jer 8:9-11 CEV). “Evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash! Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘What happened to your whitewash?’ (Ezek 13:10-12 NLT). The peace the world offers is a false peace. It will not stand.
Trust in Christ, who is our true peace and unity as one, for we are the body of Christ. For as the body is one and has many members and all are members of the same body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bound or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not a single member, but many…God has joined all the members together…He did this so there may be no division within the body, but that the members should care for one another with the same affection. So, when one member suffers, all the members suffer together; or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:12–27 ULB). Praise be to God!!! As believers, we are the body of Christ, and He is our peace. He broke down all the walls of hostility and made us one—a new creature in Christ Jesus. There should be no prejudice against one another in us. “Christ’s love controls us…We have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor 5:14–17 NLT). Live in Christ and rest in His peace. To God be the glory! Amen!
