Many are growing weary of the constant war of words. Unkindness, unfair comparisons, and rejoicing in the sins of others fill our world with muck.
Print media, broadcast media and social media amplify anger into a seething
cauldron of rage. Campaign season adds fuel to the fire and chokes mailboxes
with glossy mailers filled with innuendo and twisted logic.
We long for peace—not just the absence of violence—but genuine peace in
our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in our political parties.
That genuine longing is a good and beautiful thing. But unless it leads
us to ask for God’s help, it will remain an empty hope. Peace is a fruit of the
Holy Spirit.
St. Paul makes this plain in Galatians 5:20-23. He lists “enmity,
strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, [and] divisions” among
the works of the flesh. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, [and] faithfulness” (ESV).
So, the best thing that you can do, if you want to
contribute to peace in our world, is to pray for God to give us peace.
Toward that end, the Church has inherited a
beautiful prayer that you could use. It begins, “Heavenly Father, God of all concord, it
is Your gracious will that Your children on earth live together in harmony and
peace.”
This reminds us that it is not only we who desire peace, but God Himself
wants us to live together in harmony and peace. In fact, all concord (i.e.
unity of heart) comes from God alone.
So, we go on to ask Him: “Defeat the plans of all those who would stir
up strife, destroy the weapons of those who delight in war and bloodshed, and,
according to Your will, end all conflicts in the world.”
It is not within our reach to outshout the voices of those who are
constantly stirring the pot. Nor can our puny weapons stop bloodshed in global wars.
But God can. So, we commend these things to Him.
But now, the prayer turns to ask for things that are within our reach.
“Teach us to examine our own hearts that we may recognize our own inclination
toward envy, malice, hatred, and enmity.”
This is the heart of true peace. It is not to scrutinize everybody
else’s heart to find out their sins. That accomplishes nothing but to make us
their judges and accusers. If you really want to change the world, you will
need to turn your gaze inward and root out the evil in your own heart.
But just as it is beyond our reach to stop foreign wars, it is also
beyond our ability to see our own sins. We desperately need God even for this.
So, we must humbly seek His help for this work.
So we pray, “Help us, by Your Word and Spirit, to search our hearts and
to root out the evil that would lead to strife and discord, so that in our
lives we may be a people at peace with all people.”
God’s help comes “by [His] Word and Spirit.” Only by making daily use
of the Holy Scriptures and by listening to the preaching of God’s Church can we
overcome our resistance to repentance and be given the gift to see our own
contribution to the strife and discord in our world.
When God has given you this gift, He has made you a conduit of His own
peace. Peace comes to your world not when everybody around you repents of their
sin, but when you do.
So, the ancient prayer ends by asking God to make us zealous not for
some utopian world peace that can be had without Jesus. But for the “peace . .
. which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
“Fill us with zeal for the work of Your Church and the proclamation of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone can bring that peace which is beyond
all understanding; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
If you believe in Jesus, I commend this prayer to you. Pray it in your
heart, in your home and in your Church. God will grant it.
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