Peace is stillness of soul. Attentiveness to the sublime rhythms of life all around us: the cycle of night and day, the coming of the spring, the rains and the moon all mark out tides of activity and tides of calm.
Messiah means anointed, special and in tune. A wholeness of being free from the brokenness that grates against the natural rhythms of health, love, life and warmth. A Prince of Peace heralds a kingdom of wholeness, the “shalom” kingdom where striving ceases, where God provides heart-peace that allows true joy, meaningful labor, times of refreshing and healing.
To be saved is not an end point, but a state of being, not an outcome but a quality of existence. I am saved because I am loved. I am living eternal life when my heart is at rest, content and grateful to be wrapped in the cocoon of my savior’s infinite scarred arms.
A prince is royalty with promise. Not yet a king, but in unity with the King, the presence of the very flesh of the King. A prince tangibly shows that the best of the kingdom is yet to come, a future when he will be King. The Prince of Peace came to show the promise of forever peace: an end to death, an end to rebellion, an end to betrayal and deception. The King will come as a roaring lion, but for now the Prince of Peace brings a simple invitation: Do you want peace or do you choose to labor? Do want surrender or do you choose your endless unquenchable desires? Do you kiss the son or perish?
Psalm 2:11-12 “Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction”
I choose Jesus. I know there is more that I have yet to experience. My sin, my desires, my pride, my insecurities, my envy, my scars, wounds, fear, shame… one by one are subsumed. I am not yet what I will be. I struggle to change by running up the muddy hill only to slide back down. I run again and fall comically. I rush the hill and slide. Each time hoping to reach the summit and the green pasture beyond. Stuck, but not hopeless.
My Shepherd is above calling my name. “Follow my way”. I know He is leading me on. I look down and see his footprints leading to a new path. Not by my effort, but in his footsteps: His grace, His righteousness, His way, His plan, for His glory, mine are but small simple acts of obedience.
Peace in the midst of the chaos of war from above and loss from below: a constant struggle with sin named hatred, sloth, pride, dissipation, lust. I must wait and pray for perspective, for the weariness to pass. I reject the sadness and the anger, asking for my needy heart to be circumcised. Cut free the tethers to performance, to acclaim, to monetary reward, to the desire to be worshiped. Peace is having my place be secure, but not elevated and aggrandized. Peace as contentment. Peace as a conduit for power. Not grasping at it for self, but open to it because I am whole. Power not for power’s sake, not for control, not for legacy, power for lasting change in others hearts, lives and destiny. Power to make whole.
Wholeness of truth, love, faith – this is Kingdom Power. This is Peace.
It comes only from the Prince of Peace.
Atheist to Elder 