perfect peace

We are broken. We don’t care like we ought to, and indeed we are too often part of the problem. Well, I speak with an “editorial we”, for myself. And I remember decades back a spiritual director (he was that, though we didn’t use that title) and friend telling me that I was an emotional cripple. And he was right.

Add to that, especially as we get older, we realize more and more that our days are indeed numbered. We might be reminded of that through this and that being wrong with us, or that possibility due to our genetics and experiences.

I was reminded of my mortality this week. My doctor said that I’m quite healthy, other than the fact that he did have to remove a mole that he said is likely Basal Cell Carcinoma, the most common kind of skin cancer, which is highly treatable, and the least serious form, but is still cancer (or at least I have that as a possibility, which we will know for sure once we receive the report from pathology). I had to get over the shock of that, being more dark complected, especially as a boy. And this means my chance of having the same form of cancer show up, is increased.

Enter God’s perfect peace. It comes and goes, but I certainly experience something of it along the way. God promises peace peace (literal translation of the Hebrew) to those whose minds are stayed on him, as they trust in him (Isaiah 26:3). And a peace from him that passes our understanding, as we entrust ourselves to him in prayer and thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6-7).

Peace in scripture fundamentally has to do with the well being of all creation occurring through the new creation in Jesus. It begins in this old creation, groaning as it is impacted by the fall. Beginning in and through us in Jesus. But in this already/not yet present, this peace will ebb and flow, it will come and go. But the deeper and truer we give ourselves to God by faith through Jesus, the richer this experience of peace as in well being, and inward tranquility, will become.

This is a part of Jesus, or the Jesus life, which by the Spirit we need to show in our lives, individually and in community in Jesus, to the world. The fruit of the Spirit which indeed is relational. From the Lord out to each other, and to others.