Peace at Reality Prices
‘What on earth,’ I thought, ‘is all this talk about “getting
real”? What is the obsession with “getting on your island” of a dubious
sub-culture? Why should we leave our out-of-date language, our tested culture,
and take on other cultural habits just to prove we ‘understand’ the difficulties
of others? Are we ashamed because we have been here a long time?’
Heroes used to be those who were useful and wholesome. They did not depend on
notoriety to become important and they didn’t need pastors and teachers who
related to a drugged, knife-wielding virtuosity to establish their ‘reality.’ In
our day, being ‘real’ depended on being just that – dependable foot soldiers in
the field of life. Being ‘real’ were those who bore difficulties and grief with
patience and whose woundings ministered to others and whose ‘reality’ lives on
long after they have gone. I am glad my memories are of hearing my mother’s
gracious reply to insult and my father’s quiet suffering under economic
rationalisation. Those memories bring me peace.
And isn’t peace what the world seeks? Isn’t peace the reason for endless
meetings, diplomacies, and conferences? Isn’t peace the reason that police
patrol our streets and roads? Isn’t peace the reason for ‘Neighbourhood Watch’?
Jesus did not make peace with every cultural outrage. Peace was His culture, His
language, His lifestyle and He invited people into it.
It is passed on to us when, and only when, we adopt his reality, his culture,
his ideals. It is not the result of his adopting our tainted perceptions because
we are all polluted with sin. Yes, that old-fashioned word, sin. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God and the only way out of our disability is to
take the cure offered by Jesus.
He first made our peace with His Father, ‘now that we have been justified
through faith we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Romans
5:1.
Even though Jesus was totally without sin, he died as all sin must die in
complete obedience to the law of God. By doing so, he justified his total
acceptance of you and me and presents us to his Father as totally sinless.
Jude said so and raised his thoughts ‘unto him that is able to keep you from
falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy,’ verse 24.
Notice the sequence, to keep you from falling and then to present you as
faultless. There we have the deal, sealed in obedience and faith. Then through
his dying in complete obedience to the law of God, Jesus says ‘Peace is my
parting gift to you, my own peace such as the world cannot give.’ John 14:27.
He invites you to join His peaceplan, and yes, it’s free - but it will cost you
everything you have.
(Even our Kookaburra is not laughing at the idea! He is totally at peace.)
Elizabeth Price