The Paradox of Peace

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.  --Romans 16:20

Well, friends, there is no going back now.  I have signed a contract with a publisher, and my book Facets of Grace should be available in bookstores, on Amazon and for Kindle in about 90 days.  Hoping for July 1.  Praying for a wide audience, not so as to increase my royalty checks (though that would be nice--I can't lie), but that the God of grace would use my humble musings to touch someone, to encourage them, and to perhaps lead them to Christ.  I hope that you will pray with me toward that end.

Now I feel impressed to begin a new project, this time on Peace.  Transitioning from Grace to Peace should be easy.  Paul said in Romans 1:7, "Grace and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ."  In this way, he bridged the gap between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who lived in Rome.  Let me explain.  The traditional Christian greeting among Gentile Christians, especially those with Greek influence, was to say "Grace to you."  Whenever they met another Christian on the street or in the church, they would say "Grace to you."  Usually, the other person would answer, "And also to you."  In this way there was fellowship among the brethren.  Even today, many Catholic and Orthodox Christians continue this greeting.

If you were raised in a Jewish household, the standard form of greeting was to say, "Shalom", or Peace.  In this verse, Paul differentiated the greeting from the traditional Jewish one by adding, "from our Lord Jesus Christ."

It seems that in our world today, peace is needed now more than ever before.  There are Christians being persecuted and imprisoned in North Korea and Iraq.  The Islamic State can be seen beheading Christian believers on CNN.  The wars and rumors of wars are a reminder of what Jesus said in Matthew 24:6: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come."  Note what he said.  Don't freak out about wars, even ones that may be happening on your own soil.  Don't be alarmed.  God is still in control.

Many in the world today believe that peace is the absence of conflict.  They see organized religion as a source of much of that conflict.  That is why you see bumper stickers that say "Coexist" where each letter is representative of a religious or new age symbol.  To often in our country, anger is focused on Christians.  Somehow, the thinking goes, if we "Bible thumpers" were not so dogmatic and narrow minded, there would be less conflict in our world.  These folks argue that the so-called "militant wing" of the Muslim faith is a small percentage of the followers of Islam, so those who are beheading Christians on the news aren't to be lumped in with more moderate followers of the "religion of peace".

What a shame that these people are buying in to a lie from the pit of hell itself.  I saw a statistic recently that said even if only 5% of Muslims fall into the "militant" category, that is still millions of people bent on the destruction of Israel and the destruction of America.  In fact, I have heard it said that the eschatology (study of end times or of last things) of the Q'uran closely mirrors that of the Bible, but with a different hero.  What Christians would call the Antichrist is hailed in the Q'uran as the great Mahdi, or Guided One, who will rule the earth for 7 years and bring peace through subjugation of all peoples.

That is why the promise of Romans 16:20 is so great.  The God of peace will not bring an absence of conflict.  No, the God of peace will crush Satan underfoot, and He will use you and me to do it.  Read the verse again.  "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."  The grace of God is given to those who stand up to Satan and his evil forces.  Peace, then, is not the absence of war and conflict.  It is the calm assurance of the warrior that he or she is on the side of good and of right.  Peace of mind in the midst of a conflict.  Peace in the heart of a warrior.

May God grant you that peace.  May He grant you the grace to stand against the evil one.