"What's On The Flip-side of Peace?"

The Road to Shalom

The "Peace Movement"—if there really is such a thing—did not originate with the Sixties youth culture. It's as old as the heart of God Himself. In fact, it's at the very center of His purposes. That means "peace" is an enormous word in the One Story of the One God.
Paul used the word over forty times in his letters. He wrote the Greek word for peace, eirēnē, but his mind was marinating in something more ancient. Something with a couple thousand years of meaning behind it. Paul was thinking, “shalom,” one of the most beautiful words in all of Hebrew. A word that refers to everything flourishing as it was originally created to do.
Unfortunately, for most of us, when we read about the "peace of God" in the Bible, our minds run quickly to the personal benefits of God's peace for us as individuals. But, just like the Story word, "sin" we looked at in the last episode, the Story word, "peace" also has multiple dimensions to it. And, the majority of them involve us. Yet, not as beneficiaries of shalom, but as it agents.
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Photo by Vasilios Muselimis on Unsplash