The word "Peace" means many things to many people. I have heard people exclaim, "All I want is some peace!" or "No justice, no peace!" In these instances, Peace is an external and transactional result of some set of actions. The type of Peace desired is an external peace that supplants feelings of anxiety, fear, and trepidation about some impending or threatening calamity.
There is another type of Peace available. While it too is a result, it is not external to the person; it is internal and integral to the individual's worldview. The Peace I refer to is an integral peace that gives the person possessed of it a feeling of wholeness that nothing outside of them can disrupt or disturb.
The Peace That Passes All Understanding, Understood.
When you hear "Peace Be Unto You," you are the target of an aspirational prayer. The person offering the prayer on your behalf is petitioning for your wholeness. The blessing asked for on your behalf is a request for a mature stillness. The calmness invoked keeps you focused, eyes forward toward your future where the storms of the moment cannot reach you.
The blessing, "Peace," is not about the storm that rages without, but about the storm raging within. When facing conflict, you and I must not attempt to fight on two fronts. We must have "integral Peace" to confront the tumultuous reality properly that is before us.
As a seasoned martial artist, the first thing we learn to do when presented with a potential conflict is to:
- calm your mind,
- regulate and steady your breathing, to remain relaxed and agile,
- formulate your attack to maximize impact and defense to minimize damage,
- assess your environment and the resources available to you at the moment,
- then act with confidence, deliberateness, and certainty.
All of this must transpire in moments and begin with a "calmed" mind. Without these Peace producing steps, you cannot act with certainty to resolve the external conflict you are facing.
In the absence of external Peace, we must tap the wellspring of integral Peace that keeps us steady in the heat of the storm. Jesus speaks of this Peace, calling it the Peace that comes from building right and on the right foundation. He instructs us that a house built on His teaching is a house that can weather three types of assaults.
- The winds that press against you, trying to twist and contort you,
- the floodwaters that erode your footing attempting to uproot and displace you, and the
- rainwaters that batter and work to compromise the structures that protect you.
Integral Peace is internal and serves as an inoculation against the infectious nature of an external conflict. The result of this infection is fear, trepidation, indecision, hesitation, and paralysis that may leave you overwhelmed and devastated.
The Peace of God is a Discipline
Much like the discipline of martial arts that teaches integral Peace when facing external conflict, the Peace of God is a disciplined act of a mature follower of Jesus Christ. Listen to the words of Philippians 4:6&7 (New Living Translation)
6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God's Peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His Peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus
The word of God is instructional, aspirational, and intentional. More importantly, the direction and training embodied in verse six present us with a discipline that empowers us with integral Peace. Through disciplined application and practice, we can achieve integral Peace that passes all understanding.
Allow me to parse verse six, "Don't worry about anything," In other words, calm your mind, regulate and steady your breathing, to remain relaxed and agile. "Instead pray about everything" (formulate your attack to maximize impact and defense to minimize damage, assess your environment and the resources available to you at the moment,)
Worry and prayer are the same things but focused upon two opposing outcomes. When we worry, we meditate on things we do not want to occur and become mired in fear and paralyzed with doubt. When we pray, we meditate on the things we want to occur, rewarding us with a calm assurance that empowers us to act with faith in the direction of our prayer.
From the discipline of prayer, we gain integral Peace that comes from God that, in turn, guards our hearts and minds.
At every turn, the disciple of Jesus must choose integral Peace in the face of external conflict because external Peace is never guaranteed when living in a world that does not, though they profess to, know the God of Peace.