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Jeremiah 33:6 Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. (NIV)
Explosions in Afghanistan. Fighting in the streets of Baghdad. Brutal slayings in Gaza. And genocide still going on in Darfur. When, o when will all this warring madness end?
We all want abundant peace and security, but the forces of greed and evil, pride and power are corrupting the earth. We all want wars to cease and killing to stop, but men with guns in their hands and leaders with hatred in their hearts want to obliterate their enemies, opponents, and competitors.
The old prayer of Jeremiah falls upon deaf ears – when was the last time we heard that the UN was getting involved? When did they last reconvene to hold emergency meetings over these current crises? When did they send out people to bring about a lasting peace?
And what about our churches? We’re so tied up with our own theological problems, issues, and divisions that our voice is no longer heeded, heard or hoped for. We’ve become so insular that we forget there’s a world out there full of starving and suffering men, women, and children.
We need to do something more than just hoping for the best and praying for peace. We have to tear down the walls of indifference in our hardened hearts and begin to care about these issues. We cannot let another day go by just being thankful to get through it. We must begin to apply Christ’s message in our lives, so that, instead of ignoring these problems and switching off our compassion, we get agitated about the injustice, indifference, and inhumanity that billions are experiencing in our world today.
For too long, we’ve become cozy Christians who seek comfort in our own isolated world. Christ didn’t come to be among us just to set up a private faith and personal spirituality. He came to call us to be servants of God’s Kingdom, to agitate the world, to confront evil, and to bring a healing across the nations. Just as Christ did in the land of the Gerasenes.
We all want abundant peace and security – so what are we going to do about it?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Prince of Peace and we are Your servants, therefore we are called by You to be instruments of peace, reconciliation, and compassion. Shake us from the tree of coziness that we shelter in. Take us out of our comfort zone and make us into the peacemakers that You want us to become. And at the end of this day, may our hearts and minds be open to what’s going on in the world, instead of casting it aside as just another day. In Your Holy Name, we seriously pray. Amen.
Stushie writes the daily Heaven's Highway blog
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