What is with this spirit of war, aggression, and a need to fight that I see across so much of the Christian world right now? Things just seem so out of balance as if our faith has now become an act of aggression and hostility. It's gotten very swaggering, very macho, very sarcastic and biting....and that's just the female honey badgers and trad wives in action! Don't even get me going about the cigar smoking, whiskey drinking, bearded men of the reformed world who are aptly named "reformed" on account of the fact that their spiritual immaturity clearly belongs in reform school for a few years. I'll spare you the links, let me just say meanspiritedness now seems to be a matter of great pride and a sign one is "winning."
Whatever the heck that is all about, I want no part of it.
So I want to just mention the Prince of Peace. You will see Jesus called the "Prince of Peace" in many places all throughout Bible. The name comes from two Hebrew words, Sar-Shalom. "Sar" is the head of something like a captain, lord, or prince. "Shalom" is a lovely word that means, safety, well being, at rest, at peace. Sometimes people use it as a greeting, as a way of saying "peace be with you." Shalom.
So that right there is the epitome of good leadership, Sar-Shalom, and we have Jesus as a concrete example of what that might look like. The Prince of Peace creates shalom that is, safety, peace, and well being. Many Bible verses come to mind in this context that support that notion, but I like, "in Christ there is no condemnation," and, "perfect love casts out fear." So what is peace? A sense of well being and an absence of fear.
Ironically the secular world, the worldly world, operates on fear and taking away your sense of peace and well being. That's how marketing works, buy our products or you'll shrivel up and die alone in a house full of cats. Be afraid, be very afraid, but buy our product and we'll give you some temporary peace. The Christian world has a beautiful opportunity right now to offer an alternative, the precise opposite of all that insecurity and fear mongering.
In the Bible we have "His peace that surpasses understanding," and "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." So peace is meant to be desired, received, sought after, and cultivated, both internally and externally.
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