Devotion: War & Peace
War & Peace
Please take the time to read 1 Kings 5:1-12
Sometimes a conversation or a book or a news story or a sermon or just letting my mind wander down rabbit holes will lead me to try on various viewpoints and walk around with them for a while. Does it fit? How does it feel? Is it too big? Too small? How does it look with other points of view?
Something I’ve been reflecting on lately is that non-Christians should want to be like Christians, not because God died on the cross for their sins or salvation but because they see us living His love every day and extending His grace to everyone. To all colors. To all religions. To all genders. To each other. To them. To ourselves. To. All.
Our words and actions would make it abundantly clear that God does not see people as normal or different, fringe or mainstream, commendable or undeserving. There isn’t a prototype person and others are a deviation. We would treat people exactly as he treats us…simply a person created in His likeness, worthy of His love and grace, all of the time. And as a non-Christian they would ask “Where does all of that love and grace come from?” “Why are you like that?” And we would be able to say, “Well, let me tell you….”
To that end, Christians would be easily identifiable. Not with a bumper sticker or a lapel pin or even regular attendance at Sunday services. But with patience, compassion, empathy, acceptance, forgiveness, kindness and yes, peace.
Of course, that’s not how it often is though.
We rarely exhibit those characteristics consistently, us Christians. We proudly pass judgement, sanctions and laws that are hateful, hurtful and discriminatory. We whisper, post and scream gossip, rhetoric and lies. We allow our fears to overwhelm our faith, our need for division to reign over unity. We start fights, skirmishes and even wars leaving millions wounded and millions more dead.
And we’ve done all of this for thousands of years. And we often do it all in God’s name, convinced this is what He calls us to do. Certain He is pleased with our actions, we hop up on our soapbox and confidently proclaim that God only approves of certain people and, coincidentally, we just happen to be those certain people.
And then we look around and wonder why more people don’t want to be a Christian. Truthfully, if I knew nothing about God, and my only exposure to Christianity was the behavior of some Christians, I’m not sure I would sign-up either.
The scripture and Pastor Sarah’s sermon speak to our history of war and divisiveness and also the promise of peace.
Like David, we aren’t called to both wage wars (with either weapons or words, thoughts or feelings) and build a temple to God that will bring people together. So, for thousands of years many Christians have chosen wars of one sort or another, looking for and focusing on what divides us, staking out territory and not budging.
Not all Christians though and not all of the time. Hiram and Solomon worked together, negotiating the building of a temple, capitalizing on what each was able to contribute. In 1914, during WWI, some soldiers from opposing camps met for a few hours on Christmas Eve in the middle of a battlefield to play football (or soccer!) and celebrate the birth of Jesus. And today, perhaps right now, words are being swallowed, posts deleted, hands are being extended across an aisle, love is being shown to an enemy, grace is being given to a nemesis, and peace is being felt by longstanding adversaries. This. We can do this! How? Well, let me tell you….
Good, Gracious and Generous God,
Every day, when I have to choose between actions that reflect war and those that reflect peace, please help me to choose peace. And in so doing, let the love and grace you show me be reflected in how I treat all of your other children.
Amen
Written by Dacia Kruse
Dacia lives in Lincoln and was married last October. She is a lobbyist and mediator through The Mediation Center where she primarily works with parents who are separating and trying to figure out how to co-parent their kids.
She has been a member of Sheridan since the late 1990’s. She regularly attends Lunch Table Theology and serves on a Saturday evening hospitality team, the Sunday morning Welcome Center team and as a Wedding Coordinator. In her free time, she likes to read, travel, shop and decorate her house.