Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near. [5]
And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension,
shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [7]
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,
practice these things;
and the God of peace shall be with you. [9]
Philippians 4:5;7,9
One of the most often, overlooked spiritual gifts that we are in need of in these difficult times is Peace. Peace with God; peace with each other and peace with self. Like in any conversation about spirituality, everyone has their own opinion and in the case of peace, everyone has their own definition of the word of peace. For the purpose of this blog, I wish to offer you below, the ways in-which I have defined the word Peace in this spiritual manna based upon the above Scripture.
- The writer of Philippians uses The God of Peace to explain to us that God is near and that it is His divine wish to grant each of us “Wholeness.” God wishes to make us perfect [mature] in an imperfect world and an imperfect self-life.
- The term peace used in the Philippians Scripture is the Hebrew word shalom, which expands the definition to communicates “salvation,” as in referring to The Messiah, The Lord of Peace [2 Thessalonians 3:16, Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!]
One of the major purpose of the Gospels is to effectively instruct and then demonstrate spirituality to the physical world and within our own “world.” For me, just knowing about God, Jesus and the Kingdom of God is not enough, I want to actually experience everything that God said, and I wish to experience these promises in the present tense! Nothing can be clearer to my belief, is when God proves His Person, His Word, and His Works to me. In Messiah, I have discovered that only in Him can I experience “Wholeness.” Look below at what I am referring.
In the Gospel of John, not only do I see the Person, Word and the Works of Messiah, but I see my own helplessness and spiritual and physical deprivation without the God of Peace intervening on my behalf.
- “They have no wine” John 2:3, tells me that as a sinner, I am a total stranger to the Divine joy that is found in the Kingdom of God and not in the present world of woe.
- Sick, John 4:46, communicates to me, my very condition of a sinners soul, for sin is a disease [spiritual in origin], which is designed to rob me of my original health and spiritual birthright.
- The impotent man, John 5:7, tell me that I am without strength, I am completely helpless thus, unable to do a thing to improve my total soul condition.
- The multitude without food, John 6:5, communicates the fact that I am forever destitute of the most important spiritual nutrition which imparts the ability to survive in this present world while preparing to live for eternity in the New World to come.
- The disciples on the storm-tossed sea, John 6:18, depicts the dangerous position that I occupy as I without God’s Peace, am traveling on the pathway that leads to destruction.
- The blind man from birth, John 9:1, tells of my incapability of perceiving either my own wretchedness and all of the dangers surround me, and or the only One who alone who can make me Whole.
- Spiritually dead, John 11, communicates that even though I am alive physically, I am dead spiritually in trespasses and sins. Of all of the above-mentioned conditions, being spiritually death is the lowest status a human can go.
In closing,
Paul writes that in order for those who are Faithful in Messiah, to Forbear [to hold up] in this fallen world, we who are Christ-like are called to demonstrate before all humanity, that Messiah is near because all of the things that they have been learned, received and heard by one’s lifetime study and discipline; Live these things Out Loud Before the World, that others may also become Whole while the Lord of Shalom is near.
Grace and Peace
Alonzo E. Thornton, D.Min.
In faithful partnership with: http://www.thesourceoftruelife.com/