Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
True peace, the kind of peace this passage is talking about, is one of the most beautiful attributes we can receive from Christ as our relationship with him grows. This isn’t simply referring to an absence of wars or everybody getting along. Peace certainly carries these things with it on a large scale but Paul is speaking to peace on a personal scale. The peace we feel when the world around us is crumbling. The peace we feel as we are confronted with an unthinkable tragedy. The peace we feel as we take our last breath.
This peace is different.
In the end everything will be all right, nothing can harm you permanently; no loss is lasting, no defeat more than transitory, no disappointment is conclusive. Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement and death will be part of your journey, but the kingdom of God will conquer all of these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever. - Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel)
A couple of days ago, we read the story of the Chapman family and the unthinkable tragedy they went through a few years ago. We spoke of the love that was on display in every chapter of this story. But just as powerful is the peace that carried this family through the pain that followed the incident.
Steven Curtis Chapman told about a discovery he made in the hours after the accident that has provided comfort in the days since.
“Maria had the morning of the accident drawn a picture of a flower and had written a word that she had never written before. She knew how to write her name. That was all I had ever seen, and maybe ‘I love Dad’ or ‘I love Mom,’” Chapman said. “But she had never written any other words.”
“And when she first died, Caleb and I, especially, kept saying if we could just see, if we could just have a dream, something, God, we’d believe it. If we could just see something that would tell us that she’s OK.”
“And the day after the accident, we went home to get some clothes for the funeral, for the memorial,” he said. “Sitting on the art table was this little picture that Maria had drawn the morning of the accident. She had drawn a six-petaled flower, and only one petal was colored in. We have six children. Only one is whole now, we believe, in the arms of Jesus.
“She wrote the word S-E-E,” he said. “She wrote the word see. And she had never written that before. She was saying, ‘See, I'm good. I'm OK.’”
True peace is ours to claim. It’s now up to us to share it.
Choose peace.
