peace.

It was so peaceful I had to snap a picture of it.  Sure, she requires a light, or a noisy fan/radio, or mom/dad laying with her usually.  But here she was, sleeping peacefully in her own bed.  Here we are in the 4th week of Easter, and I”m struck by this concept of Peace that we haven’t heard much about since Christmas.

It’s right there in the midst of the “Hallelujah Chorus”.  He’s the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6)!  (Hallelujah!)  But this is so much more than a holiday icon.  More than words meant to flavor a Christmas card, & give meaningful alliteration to worship pastors who like to shout out short phrases during singing while surrounded by poinsettias.  Sidenote: You may wonder, as I did, why “Prince” of Peace?  Why not “King”?  The answer might be simple, as seen in definitions of “Prince” here.  It’s not always a statement of royalty, but also “the one of highest rank, the chief of any body”.

He is actually the foremost authority on all things peace related.  The source of Peace above all over peaces.  (read “peace” here as so much more than cessation of war)  This God-man who we see hanging on the cross, battered and scarred.  The resurrected Jesus who walked with his followers on the road to Emmaus.  In many cases, these moments of death and resurrection become reduced to a mathematical equation:  Sin created a “negative”, and Jesus was the only positive large enough to bring us back “out of the red”.  God paid the giant debt, and now we’ve all got great cosmic credit scores again.

But what we see happening on the cross, through the resurrection, and so on – is not an objective math lesson.  As cute as it might be to say “3 Nails + 1 Cross = 4Given”, there is so much more happening here than the clearing of our sin-debt.  Jesus is actually blazing a trail for all of humanity to follow.  God became man, and by his life He created a way for humanity to live a life of sacrificial love for others, dying to self and being given a new source of life.  Redefining the human experience, and providing new foundations for us to build on.  He accomplishes nothing less than the birth of a New Kingdom of Love, one that will never end.  He then gives us His Spirit to actually be our source – so that our efforts are not merely “attempts at looking like Jesus”, but are actually the presence and work of Jesus Christ breaking through into a world that is desperate for the presence of it’s Lord.

And so, in my frustrations with my daughter, I feel like maybe God often looks at me with the same fatherly love.  Wondering why I don’t rest in His peace more often.  Why we feel ourselves tossed about by the waves of anxiety, pressures of false foundations, and so on.  Wondering why I feel the need to always be busy doing something, instead of napping in His presence (or at least breathing slower).

And so I will remember this week, as I continue to proclaim the resurrected Lord as my King – He is not only Lord of all.  He is the very source of True Peace.  As His Spirit continues to become our source, we will find ourselves more and more founded on a peace, even one that is beyond our understanding…:)

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:7