Peace, Rest and other Confusing Theological Conversations

Have you ever stopped and looked around at all that surrounds you? Looking at the people that make up your lives. Your parents, your teachers, your friends, your colleagues if you work, and other people that make up your life. Have you ever stopped and looked around to the ways your life is shaped around? Looking at the activities that you are a part of or the things in your life that makes up who you are? Is there ever an end to joining something, becoming a part of, signing up to, and the list goes on. Why is it that we continue to put ourselves through agony in respect to time?

Being busy twenty four hours a day is not a healthy lifestyle. Joining and attending and being apart of everything is not a healthy choice for us to make. But why is it that we continue to find ourselves longing to do "good" and be apart of something that is "good" when in the end, our spirits are broken by it. One of my favorite movies of all time is the movie Tomb Stone. There are many memorable quotes that come from this movie that is based in the days of the "wild west". It stars great actors such as Kurt Russel, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot and others. I mention this movie because Kurt Russel's character is the famous Wyatt Earp. To get to my point without spoiling the movie, Wyatt Earp is this famous marshal to moves to Tombstone to retire but then gets himself into some trouble by taking on more and more responsibilities. None the less, by it is all said and done, he finds himself loosing many of his close friends, mainly his wife and few brothers. In fact, his brothers die due to Wyatt Earp's involvement with the law. A man of "honor" comes in to settle down, only to find himself not escaping the demands of his popularity and cries of society.

What about your? Where is that you can find peace and rest? Where is it that you can find a place to retire for a short while? Or have you been deceived by the culture of our day to be involved in so much that you simply cannot find time to find rest? When you do find time for rest, in what ways do you feel new life come to you? How is it that your body becomes resurrected? Does that Christ that is the Prince of Peace play apart in your life? Or is he simply a god that you come to sit in and listen to on Sunday mornings?

Our Christian faith is much about conversation. Community is key in the life of a church and one of the spiritual body. You see, everything about our faith is for community. We hear the famous Bible verse, John 3:16, but why do we limit Christ saving grace to just this verse that if you continue on with verse 17 that Christ did not come just to save YOU but rather to save the WORLD and not condemn it. But where does all of this play out in your life? Many people get turned off by the saying of, "my personal relationship with Christ" but I cannot help but to argue that this must be better in the sight of our Trinitiarian God than those who faithful to the building of church rather than the Body of Christ that is the Christ. Because you simply go to church does not make you a Christian, or a follower of Christ. Just like attending a St. Louis Cardinal Baseball game does not make you a St. Louis Cardinal. One simply is a spectator that has no say or control of the organization of the baseball team. Christ, God, Holy Spirit, it is not a organization but often times the way we approach God, we turn him into just that, a country club feeling.

In 1 Peter we receive words of encouragement from the writings of Peter while he explains that we are all indeed going to go through these times of fiery trials and rough patches. In verse five of chapter 1 we read in his letter that God and his mighty power will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. This is in response to the previous quote that our priceless inheritance is in heaven for us, pure and undefiled, waiting for us. So when we trust in the Lord our God, we will receive this salvation, the hope we have of the eternal life. Much discussion on theology can be had here as we bring up the issue of salvation, eternal life, etc. but my main point here is that we are to put our trust and our hope in Christ, the one who came to bring Hope, Peace, Love and Joy. if we find ourselves, molding our lives into something that can be tarnished, that can be defiled and that can be rotten, then where is the joy in life? Christ is not a genie, God is not like the genie from Aladdin, but he loves us more than we can ever know, and if we claim to love God but do not love our selves or others, then we are simply liars. If we claim to love the Lord our God with all our soul, strength, mind, but put our hope and joy in earthly things, then we are simply liars.

What we need in our lives is love. A love that can not be found in anyone or anything. A love that comes from a god that cannot be seen. Although we may not see him, we trust him, knowing His story and his demonstration of love for us. Christ my friends, meets us daily but we find ourselves too busy and living in a fear of being like "them" that we simply miss him. Find Christ, seeing Christ, and being Christ goes deeper than any social club or showing up on any particular day. Much is given and much is required.

Let us get away from hypocrisy, jealousy, coveting, and backstabbing this season, and begin to fulfill the longing that sits in our hearts with the love of God, that was made possible through Christ Jesus. May we follow in the footsteps and bask in the light of the one who suffered for us, only to find ourselves becoming last and not first, lowly rather than exalted and praying rather than complaining. In the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians, "No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven." Live the life of Christ, don't just hear about it and pretend to do it. Love those who need love, lay aside all selfish ambitions and begin to discard everything so that you may have all of Christ.