Is there real Peace?
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” – Matthew 22:25
What bold hypocrisy Christ’s life would have been had he been the ruler of the demons as the Pharisees often proclaimed. With such power Christ demonstrated, surely as the ruler of demons he would find better use of it than to cast out his own kind, and surely we would be able to see the corruption in his behavior and deeds. Such self-destructive acts against his own would surely cause him to fall. But rather, Christ’s life is consistently riddled with goodness and righteousness. Christ’s divine nature produced a colossal amount of behavioral symptoms that proved congruent of who he claimed to be. It is by this that Christ was able to stand boldly without faltering.
This is a boldness that we too can have as Christians. We can have this same congruency of the heart and outward expression because of the Holy Spirit residing within, giving us the power to choose what is good and right. There is given peace to our hearts that pumps devotion through our veins, enabling us to operate smoothly in a world that is anything but smooth. But that also means that negative outwardly symptoms or operations are an indicator of a problem on the inside as well. The peace of God is not a promise that things going on around you will fade away as they make their way toward you. It’s not a promise that evil will choose to pass you by in this world. Rather, the peace of God is an unexplainable calm in the midst of those things when they do come. Philippians 4:6-7 says,
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The Peace of God is a guard standing in front of that which would cause your heart and mind to war amongst themselves. We must remember that the Holy Spirit is invasive to what is natural to a broken world. The natural order of things is pain, suffering and death; things that cultivate symptoms like depression and anxiety. Peace in the midst of chaos is anything but natural. The Holy Spirit is Supernatural. The Peace of God guards our hearts and minds, enabling us to stand internally undivided.
Is there peace while you war with yourself? Is there peace while depression and anxiety eat away at your mind through inconsistent self-destructive emotions? Is there peace while sin rules your actions and you lie to yourself, trying to convince yourself that you are fine? No. Ephesians 4 tells us to put away our old corrupted self and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness. Let there be no mistake for those who truly know Christ, that in your weakness and falling back into fleshly depressive thoughts does not eradicate or invalidate your faith. For you, let this be a reminder that you have power over those things through prayer, as Philippians 4:6-7 says. But for those whose condition has only ever been in the flesh, and not in the Peace of God, let this be a wake-up call. Your house is divided. You are unable to stand. There is no peace. You are ignorant to the unsettled condition of your heart. You are not fine. You are fined with the debt and penalty of death to which you owe for your sinful existence. I say these harsh words not from a podium of spiritual elitism, but as someone who knows I owe the same debt, had it not been payed by Christ who took the weight of everyone’s sin upon himself as he hung and died on the cross. How long until you too lay down your sword and accept the payment Christ already payed for you and allow your soul to have real peace?
Softly Spoken Truth 