The Peace of Christ

We have been united by Christ, and his kingdom is a kingdom of peace.

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossian 3:15).

Photo by Candice Seplow on Unsplash

Have you noticed how unpeaceful the world is? You can’t open social media without witnessing a fight. How many office meetings tomorrow morning will be filled with tension? How many ex-coworkers and ex-friends and ex-whatevers in the world will be created just in this next week? But inside the church, as we let the peace of Christ rule, we find a way forward even when the light ahead is dim. We have been united by Christ, and his kingdom is a kingdom of peace. He is a ruler of peace. Whatever our disagreements may be, however much we may be suspicious of others, we are to deal with it all in terms of the peace Christ has made. He has reconciled us to God. Can he not bring peace among us? We do not have a dead savior. In all our disputes, he is living and active.

When we put on the new clothes of Jesus, we become in God’s gracious hands the kind of community everyone in this world longs for. A place where they can be loved and forgiven and find freedom and peace and safety. Here’s how we get there. We look to Jesus alone, and we never stop looking. We let him define us, and we stop defining ourselves. We let him be the center and stop putting ourselves there in that sacred circle where only he belongs. We live a life of faith, moment by moment, letting the peace of Christ rule and letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and we become in his merciful hands a thoroughly thankful community that looks like an outpost of heaven on earth.