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#6 Who Can I Count On?
A Peaceful, Grateful Heart
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
(Colossians 3:15)
I wish I never heard conversations like the following, but
I'm afraid they occur all the time:
"I'm going to do such and such a thing, even though some
people tell me it's wrong."
"How can you do that?"
"I've got peace about it."
"Doesn't the fact that God tells you not to do it mean
anything?"
"I've got peace about it."
"But Scripture says it's wrong."
"I don't care. I've got peace about it."
These confused people nullify an objective truth by their
subjective experience of peace. Now, it's true that Paul says we are to be
governed by peace: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." He did not,
however, mean "peace" as an individual, personal, subjective thing.
The problem is that subjective "peace" can be nothing more
than the chloroforming of the conscience. Give your conscience a hard time long
enough, tell it "phooey" long enough, and in the end your conscience will tell
you to go ahead and live as you please. You can call that "peace" if you want
to, but that's not what Paul's writing about here.
When Paul mentions "peace," he is talking about a sense of
order in relationships between Christians. Believers are called to orderly
behavior. We are not called to hassling, fighting, or arguing. We are not called
to cliques, schisms, or feuds. We in the church are to be governed by peace.
This peace, Paul says, is to have a traveling buddy named
"thankfulness." One evening our church had a great quarterly meeting of pastors,
elders, and deacons. The last hour was devoted to people standing up and
declaring one thing for which they were thankful, one new thing they had seen
God do in our fellowship during the previous year. We had to cut it off after an
hour. You walk out on air after a meeting like that.
It's amazing what a dash of thankfulness will do. It's
amazing what a commitment to peace and order in the fellowship will do. It
begins to produce the body of Christ.
What does Paul mean when he tells about the peace of Christ?
Lord, I want Christ's peace to rule in my relationships with others. Please
help me to be thankful, too, regardless of the circumstances, Amen.
~Stuart Briscoe~
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