Years ago, I wondered about gangs and gang leaders, death dealers who wreaked havoc with people’s lives. I wondered whether they valued human lives, or if they only placed value on their own lives. As killing becomes more and more common globally, I find myself asking the same question regarding national leaders and warring factions. Maybe it is a my history professor once suggested, that when there’s overpopulation, us humans try to give nature a helping hand by going to war. Whether that is true or not, as believers in Christ, these times call for living by God’s Spirit and for preserving life. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Romans 8:6 NIV
[6] The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Life and Peace
There are so many things around us that could steal our peace these days. If we’re not careful, we can easily get caught up in little offences and lose focus on God. Some of the offences are not little, and in some instances, we cannot simply sit on the fence, because the outcomes affect us directly. It is imperative that in the very literal spaces we occupy, we choose to yield to the life-giving Spirit of God. Then, we will find our peace comes – not in an absence of conflict, but with the sure and steady knowledge that it is well when God’s Spirit is in control.
Self-Check
How readily do we yield to God’s Spirit in times of conflict and crisis?
Application
It is important to note that Paul’s letter to the Romans was for both Jewish and Gentile believers. The two ways of understanding their faith and its implications for salvation didn’t always connect. In addressing the Gentile converts, he was very carefully building an argument for focusing on Christ and not patterning the old guard of the Jewish faith. As a Jewish theologian himself, we know that he fully understood the nuances of what he was proposing.
At this point in his argument, Paul likened the old guard of ‘salvation’ under the Law of Moses to living by the ‘flesh’, and salvation in Christ as living in the Spirit. As a former persecuter of those who followed ‘The Way’ of Christ, it is perhaps no wonder that for Paul, the Law was a source of death. If taken literally, one might hear him saying that all those who were under the Law, were on a one-way path to death, or that they were death dealers. Rather, Paul proposed that it was so easy to fall short of God’s standard, and under the Mosaic Law, there was limited room for grace. Hence death was the ultimate outcome. Conversely, those who accepted the way of Christ understood that Christ had fulfilled the Mosaic Law, offering Life instead of Death. Moreover, we know that Christ literally conquered Death itself, and Death to God’s favour by His own resurrection from Death.
If Christ hadn’t literally died publicly, this all would be suspect. But He did. In fact, He died before the soldiers could assist Him in the process. But, although He said, ‘_It is finished_!’, before breathing His last, the best was yet to come.
Y’shua returned to life.
And in doing so, He destroyed the power of Death completely, despite the pain of separation we experience on this side of eternity.
You might be wondering about the connection between the current state of affairs around us now, and Paul’s premise of Life and Peace in God’s Spirit. I’d like to suggest some thoughts
1. That Paul spoke to two contrasting views of what effects salvation says that there may still be contrasting views in our contexts. Some of the folks who disturb our peace might also be from our own faith tradition.
2. Death dealing is not of God’s Spirit, definitely not in the way it is handled in most conflict zones. Those death dealers are not peacemakers, and are least likely to be operating under God’s Spirit.
3. As followers of Christ, our path is peace. That doesn’t mean however, that we ignore injustice or remain separate from what happens around us. As hosts to God’s Spirit, peace is part of our new nature, and our minds ought to be focused on it because Christ is the Prince of Peace. In following His lifestyle, we offer God’s abundance of grace, life, favour and joy to the world. We help others to thrive in Christ, especially during crises. It may come at a cost, that’s the point of sacrifice, but we rest in the assurance that even in the face of death dealing forces, there is a greater, more powerful force that offers us life beyond Death.
May we find our peace in Christ, even if it has been taken from us. May our minds remain honed on God’s Spirit.
Point to Ponder
How do we share God’s peace with others in times like these?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
