Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “Waging Peace”. When our quarterly first used this phrase (introduction on page 2-3), I loved it! Wage peace. Great! And now in this week’s lesson, here is that phrase again as the title of the lesson.
We can often think of “supporting peace” as “pacifism” (an attitude of nonresistance). But in this quarterly, peace is not nonresistance. Peace is described with a verb usually used in context with war. “Waging”. Yet the verb “wage” means “to engage in or carry on”. So, the phrase in the quarterly means “to engage in peace” or “to carry on peace”. And with all things, the method we use must support the mission we pursue. We can only “wage peace” by “peaceful” means. What does that mean? How to peacefully engage in peace? We must engage in peace the same way as our “Prince of Peace”. Always keeping in mind, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). We do not wrestle against people (flesh and blood). I repeat, WE DO NOT WRESTLE AGAINST PEOPLE. We love people. “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35); “And above all things have fervent love for one another” (1 Peter 4:8).
It always comes back to love, does it not. Love. Agape. Yet each of us can have a unique definition of love. A definition based-upon our experience with love. Our experience colors our understanding of love. So, Christ comes to show us. To show us the true nature and character of love. The true nature and character of our Father. The true nature and character of each of us. Christ comes to each of us, each one of us. He comes in the person of His Holy Spirit. And in this role, the Holy Spirit shows us love… and shows us ourselves. God through His Holy Spirit is the “discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God alone can untangle the mess in our hearts, the mess of so-called love that has betrayed us, the mess of love lost, the mess of loveless-ness, the mess of our lived lives. His Spirit comes to us, assures us of our forgiveness, and then bids us to start again… be born again. This time, with God as our Father, Christ as our brother, and the Holy Spirit to “guide (us) into all truth” (John 16:13) and to be our “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost” (John 14:26).
This is how to wage peace. Each of us is to bring as much heaven to earth as we can, as we are so led. We are not to bring division. Remember “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18).
I have attached Isaiah 61 below. As it was the marching orders for our “Prince of Peace”, so it is for us as we become imbued with His Spirit.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to [a]heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the Lord,
They shall call you the servants of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
And in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore, in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
8 “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles,
And their offspring among the people.
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.”
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
With brotherly love,
Jim