Not As The World Giveth

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let your heart not be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27). Tacitus said of the Roman Empire "They make a desert and call it peace." Unfortunately, such scorched earth tactics are the prevailing wisdom for achieving peace as the world giveth it. According to such thinking, there can only be peace when the other side has been utterly destroyed, so that there remains not one left to voice opposition. In today's war of words and tumult of opinions, this peace through annihilation does not take place with physical destruction, but through a concerted campaign to "cancel" the opposition, or else so intimidate any opposing views that they remain silent and effectively cancel themselves from public discourse. This silencing of any that the righteous mob labels as bigots, traitors or deplorables can then give the illusion of unanimity and conformance. This is the peace that the world giveth: eliminate or coerce every last person to your viewpoint so that there is no more fighting or disagreement. But this is not the peace that the Lord giveth. The Lord invites us all to have peace and to be One in heart and mind and Spirit, not by stripping ourselves of our individuality and personality, but by embracing one another's differences and coming to a mutual understanding and agreement anyway. The Lord's peace means that we are so filled with the pure love of Christ that we care more about loving and understanding and accepting each other as we are than we care about being right or winning the argument. The Lord's peace means that we are confident enough in our own commitment to putting peace above all else, and we are confident that everyone else is likewise committed to peace, that we can disagree and still love and respect each other and patiently work out a solution that is better and more comprehensive than any of our original ideas had been. I know we look out at the world around us, especially when we are on the Internet, and are so very tempted to follow the Romans' example and make a desert and call it peace and just magically wave our hand and disappear all of the stupid idiots that would never see reason in a million years so that we can finally stop fighting all of the time and have peace. But only the pure love of Christ can give us true and lasting peace. Instead of a desert, Christ would have us all make a paradise and call it peace.