“The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in
their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall
not know peace.” –Isaiah 59-8
True peace is a highly sought after
commodity. Multitudes of books, seminars, and products, have been written
and published with the sole purpose of providing the consumer with true peace;
most of which boil down to providing something to supply your lack. Your
lack of peace is due to a lack of something; albeit a state of mind, or a sum
of money, or a man, or a women, or……..the list goes on and on. The
message in a nutshell runs something like this “Clearly you don’t have peace because
you clearly don’t have enough.”
If American society was a rock band peace through indulgence
would defiantly be on their Greatest Hits album. Let us earnestly
consider the facts, who among us is elevated, adored, exalted? Is it not
those with limitless wealth and power to indulge? Can you watch 5 minutes
of television without this message, in some forum or fashion, being presented:
“You have a demand? I have the supply!” And what do they want in
exchange to supply your need or want? They want your money of course, so
that they can turn around and supply their want or need. Those with the
power to indulge and provide indulgence are championed in this world of ours,
and they are considered those who “have it all.” Empires are built
through indulgence, millions are searching for something to satisfy the craving
of their soul. They are hungering for
true peace, real belonging, genuine love, absolute acceptance; and millions
more are indulging on something to help them forget about their hopeless
pursuit for true peace. This commodity of peace is being daily traded and
paraded across this land to those wishing for it when all the while “the
way of peace they know not.” Those who are selling peace
and those who are buying it; neither of them know true peace or know the way of
it. If they knew then they would understand that peace is not something
that can be bought or earned, it cannot be traded or acquired, because true
peace is not the world’s to give. The world offers only counterfeit peace
to God’s real, genuine, true peace.
One must understand: love, joy, and peace, belong to God (as
does everything else for that matter). The empty void one feels in their
heart and the longing for peace in their soul cannot be satisfied by
indulgence, but the opposite, by lack; recognizing your lack to be
specific. If you find unholy feeling within, or a tempest of struggle and
constant war caged by the fabric of your mind, ignore the urge to buy another
self-help book, it will not help. Don’t bother picking up the phone to
call your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, they cannot comfort. There is no
need to take an extra shift so you can have more money to take your wife out on
a fancy dinner date or luxurious cruise in an attempt to bring peace to a tempestuous
relationship. These things will not offer peace. To find peace one must leave off peace as a
commodity and embrace it as an entity, an entity of Jesus Christ. True peace belongs to Christ, is Christ, and
therefore comes with Christ. You need Jesus, recognize your lack of him
and repent of your sin. When you have a witness that he has forgiven you
of your trespass and purified your soul of all committed sin then and only then
are you a ready vessel to seek the Holy Ghost that will purge the “can’t
help it” sin within. This Holy Ghost will user in peace, love, joy, and
holiness into your heart and grant you passage to a home in heaven. The
way of peace is the way of holiness.
