Jesus is Peace, Not a Teacher of Peace

As regular readers of this blog know, I read Our Daily Bread as part of my daily devotion time. Most days, really great things appear there and I often share its insights here.

But I have to take major exception to today's piece written by Pastor Joe Stowell. He refers to the "peace on earth" proclaimed by the shepherds on the night of Jesus' birth (Luke 2:8-14) and concludes that, in His teaching, Jesus gave us the tools to make peace.

This, it seems to me, misses a big part of the New Testament's message. Ephesians 2:14 says of Jesus, "He is our peace." Jesus is the peace proclaimed by the angels that night. Nothing we add to the presence of Jesus in our lives will bring peace. Jesus is all we need for peace--with ourselves, with others, and most importantly, with the God Who made us.

All who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, dare to repent of sin and believe in Jesus are filled with God's peace. They are reconciled to God and to others and are called from that time forward to do the admittedly hard work of living in that peace.

Peace comes as a gift from God to all who believe in Jesus. Earlier in Ephesians, we're told, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life (Ephesians 2:9-10).

Peace on earth has come to us in Jesus. We don't manufacture it with the tools Jesus gives, as though Jesus were just another teacher of religion, guru of morality, or a pop psychologist or motivational speaker selling the latest metaphysical wares.

Jesus is the Savior, the King of all kings, and God in the flesh. He brings peace. The call of believers in Jesus is simply to walk in the peace God has already created to be our way of life!

May our walk with Jesus be filled with His peace, irrespective of the conflicts which may roil this world, and may God use us to bring the peace that comes from believing in and belonging to Jesus to all we meet!

Three Awesome Gifts

The most awesome gifts God gives are grace, mercy, and peace.

It's by God's grace through our faith (or trust) in Christ that we all can have peace with God.

And, to paraphrase the first century preacher Paul writing at another place in the New Testament, faith in God isn't something we construct.

We don't talk ourselves into faith any more than the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz talked himself into courage. Faith in Christ is a free gift God gives to all who are willing to let God tear down our walls of resistance.

Through grace, God can tear down everything within us that keeps us from being who we were made to be and God can begin to build up everything we were made to be.

Interested in becoming God's construction site?

It's sometimes painful, but always rewarding. Sometimes challenging, but always joyful.

And through the process of growing God-ward, you will experience the grace, mercy, and peace of the awesome God of all creation!

Today's Our Daily Bread devotion takes the time to present short definitions of these three awesome gifts of God: grace, mercy, and peace.