June 10 The Peace of God
Oh, the difference a preposition can make. Here’s an example from the Oxbridge Proofreading and Editing Resource web site.
Here’s a less obtuse, more profound example.
The Bible doesn’t promise you’ll get peace from God. St Paul promises we get the peace of God! If you open his mail to the Philippians, you find this quote, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (4.7)
It has more to do with God sharing his essence than giving you a piece of something.
It has more to do with His Divine Presence full-filling you than the absence of angst.
It has more to do with being woven into the Fabric of Eternity than going to heaven.
The Peace of God, or from the Hebrew/Old Testament, the Shalom of God, is beyond human understanding, surpasses comprehension because it is of God. And, c’mon now, who understands God!?
And yet, and yet – you don’t have to understand to receive the “beyond understanding” now do you!? Does a young child understand the depth and sacrifice of parental love to receive it!? (It’s a rhetorical question.)
So…this week we’ll set aside bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and (in ways well beyond my understanding) receive Christ and the peace of God that comes with the forgiveness of sins.
Come, be anxious for nothing to be woven into the fabric of eternity, and be a part of the peace of God…
Pastor Karl