Authentic Peace

When we think of “peace,” we tend to think of stability, tranquility. Jesus promises, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you … ” (John 14:27), and our minds conjure a stress-free, carefree existence. I can understand why: life without disruptions sounds attractive.

While stability sounds peaceful, however, I seriously doubt that is what Jesus was promising. Stability can also be static, repressive, and frozen. Peace, on the other hand, is dynamic, creative, and alive.

Far too many people settle for a cheap peace, such as those who choose to live in splendid isolation. But the Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is about life in community.

In relational terms the word peace might seem to refer to absence of conflict—to “keeping the peace” by evading issues in the family or at the office. Such lack of conflict also is false peace: difficult issues go undiscussed; arguments linger unsettled, merely terminated. Under the terms of a false peace, a relationship can appear stable on the surface with great uneasiness below.

Authentic peace, by contrast, entails the hard work of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18), a nonpeaceful process that engenders disappointment, misunderstandings, and anger. Our faith declares that God sent His only Son to reconcile us to Himself by means of a cross—hardly a peaceful path.

The life of the cross calls us “to speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). This destabilizes life but can lead to new life, such as when a family or group uses intervention to confront a person severely addicted.

At other times, speaking “truth in love” may mean refusing to say what everybody wants to hear. The prophetic tradition is to speak God’s Word no matter the cost. To speak words of truth, however, may be just what a friend, family, or business needs to hear to do right in the eyes of God.

The costly side of peace can be difficult, but it is consistent with Jesus’ statement, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth: I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). The “sword” is the destabilizer that brings authentic peace within the soul, in our relations with other people or with God. It is a peace that “passes all understanding” (Phil. 4:7).