Peace Now

“Peace I leave you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” -Jesus

I grew up and came of age during a freaky period in world history. The sixties and seventies saw our western culture coming to a tipping point. The Cold War between western democracy and eastern communism was in full swing. The Vietnam War was claiming more and more young lives. Peace advocates were losing all faith in traditional governments and religious institutions. Many of our most promising young people were doping up and dropping out. The struggle for civil rights was causing riots in major cities and racist crackdowns throughout the South.

War...Weapons...Fear...Injustice...Desperation...Rebellion...Competing Ideologies...Crime…

In the midst of all this conflict and encroaching chaos, I was growing up in an oasis of peace. My mom a registered nurse...my dad a New York State trooper...our family enjoyed a quiet, sheltered, “Father Knows Best” upbringing in the Finger Lakes region of rolling hills, scenic vineyards, clean-scrubbed schools and respectable churches.

And, in the middle of that idyllic boyhood, I had the awesome privilege of meeting the Prince of Peace. During a week-long first-time experience away from home at LeTourneau Christian Camp on the shores of Canandaigua Lake, I prayed a simple eight-year-old prayer to invite Jesus Christ into my heart. But what I failed to realize at that time was that this new Friend and Savior was, by entering into my life, bringing the end of the most earth-shattering war anyone could imagine.

For all of the bloody earthly battles and far-flung international conflicts, all of them put together can’t hold a candle to the War of Wars. The way-beyond-this-world war that erupted at the very dawn of time. A war that began in Heaven, with a magnificent angelic being named Lucifer.

Isaiah chapter 14 describes Lucifer’s fall into the God-defying sin of pride and arrogance that got him thrown out of Heaven along with an evil host of like-minded minions. Genesis 3 tells how this fallen angel general, in serpentine form, lured our first parents Adam and Eve into enlisting as fellow combatants against the sovereign authority of their kind Creator and King.

The Battle of the Ages had begun. And from that day on, mankind has been at war with the very God who gave him breath, with each other on an individual--as well as global--scale, and even with himself. The choice to disobey God in the Garden, gave rise to the innate impulse to go on disobeying Him in our every thought, word and action. We chose, and go on choosing, along with the devil of hell, to withhold all that rightfully belongs to God: our devotion...our obedience ...our love.

Even worse, we insist on lavishing those precious inward gifts on a pantheon of god-substitutes made by our own hands, dreamt up in our own deluded minds. We continually devise new and more ingenious ways to sin and depose God in our imaginations.

As I said, it was a rare privilege for me that Jesus invaded my mind and heart at so young an age, granting me the childlike faith to accept His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. From that point on I had the sweet and joyful relationship with my Creator and King that countless millions lack...a relationship against which I can measure all the troubles and turmoil that cross my path and come my way.

A friend of mine has been telling me for some time now that he feels worthless. That his life is meaningless. That he’s made too many bad choices and just wants his agony to be over. He wants his life to end. He just wants peace. I’ve tried and tried to point this friend to Jesus, but he won’t, or can’t, see it. He says he doesn’t want God’s help, because he knows what he is, and there’s no hope.

I know that there’s a war going on, even now, in this friend’s heart. But I also know that Christ holds this guy’s heart in His almighty hand. I pray that soon the war, for him, will be over. That Jesus will grant him the same gift he gave me when I was eight.

If you know a child who has yet to hear the good news of Jesus, don’t wait until the War of the Ages grows heated and overwhelming in his or her soul. Tell that little one of the Prince of Peace. Spare a child from a lifetime of turmoil and battle scars.

If you’re a believer, your own inner conflict may be over. But you and I are still in a war.

Keep fighting the good fight of faith!