Day 3139 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Hebrews 12:14 NIV

Peace is far too precious an outcome to not pursue it as desperately as possible. But so too is peace far too priceless for us to allow for compromise or for it to be taken for granted so just we can find an arbitrary version somewhere within this middle ground.

In this world we're expected to simply go along as the preeminent means of getting along. To be spineless is seen as the only real way to be cordial and make for comfortable contentment for all those around us. And thus we're taught that peace is something defined by the world in which we walk and that it's up to us to therefore alter our ways, our opinions, our beliefs in order to better adhere our lives to their arrogant insistence upon our giving them peace.

World peace. That's something that's sadly descended into a mockery most laughable. It's a quick replay given by ladies in a beauty pageants. It's a campaign slogan, a political emphasis, a global consideration of a rapidly fading idea barely resounding from an already bygone era filled with far more hope-filled days compared to the darkened horizons laying ahead of us this day.

But by all accounts, world peace, or even the basic idea of peace itself is an altogether virtuous outlook which should indeed inspire a valorous undertaking. It's truly in every way a very pure part of the foundational building blocks of our faith. We see that here in Hebrews. We are called, commanded, instructed and expected to make every effort we can offer unto living at peace in this place with all who share this place with us.

We're called to be peaceable people. But the problem is, and it's also why the whole idea of 'world peace' is all but laughable at this point, this world doesn't want peace.

This world doesn't know peace because this world doesn't care to know Christ. See, that's where our peace comes from. He is our peace. He leads us into peace when He leads us out of the troubling lives we've sadly resorted to having lived before we found ourselves at rock bottom with so little peace in our souls that we finally found ourselves fed up with the clearly corresponding lack of hope.

Christ is peace. In Him we have peace. Without Him peace cannot be. But still, despite the fact that we walk a world that doesn't know Him, won't accept Him, widely rejects Him and lambasts all who proclaim publicly a faith in Him, still we are called to make every to live in peace even with those who cannot know peace as they will not know Him for whatever reason they've chosen.

This whole idea is one that kind of came out of nowhere. No, I mean that, it literally hit me out of the blue. I was literally working out a day or two ago and this thought hit me so hard that I had to stop and make some notes as the thoughts found themselves rushing in like the rising waves which precede a hurricane. And I just love when He does that!

Because I know it's something that I get to think about, talk about, post about in these daily efforts to help us weirdos continue finding our way along the narrow road that leads to life through this place opting for the alternate.

Make every effort to live at peace with everyone. Every effort. Do all we can to be as peaceful and peaceable as possible, regardless of the place in which we stand. Offer kindness even when it's not given you in return. Show compassion without expectation. Be polite even amidst argument or ridicule. Love everyone with the same measure He showed us, or as close as we the broken possibly can.

But, we're also to make those efforts with the call to remain holy firmly in mind. Because while every effort is to be made to live in peace, those efforts end when our call to be holy is compromised. Those efforts cease when the world demands we give them a peace which contends against the truth we're here to share. Those efforts are done when we've done all we can to make the best of any given situation.

Because, just as Christ instructed the Disciples when He sent them out to start their work, "If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you." He gave us His peace so that we might learn that we choose peace. That we can choose peace. As warriors of this faith, peace is something we can choose. A solider can choose peace while all others must beg for it.

And that’s one of the big points being made here. We choose peace, not only when and where, but also for whom. We are to make every effort to give it to everyone. We offer it to all, but that doesn't mean we should expect them to receive it in the manner in which we offer it.

Many won't, most in fact. Because we do not do as the world does. Not anymore. Along this process of being sanctified into servant soldiers of the Most High, we lose all that's kept us as low as this world wishes to remain. We walk away from the mannerisms we've been taught by a world insistent upon remaining in the muck and mire of sinful desire. We change, and simply put, the world ain't gonna like it.

Again, Christ himself makes that clear in Matthew 10:22 when He again tells the Disciples what to expect in what's still to come. "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." They followed the very Messiah which the world denied and rejected to the very end of themselves as they chose to try to end His interference in their wickedness. And He kindly warned those who’d come to bear His Name that the same would be done unto them.

And we're here to walk that same line that they walked following the example He walked for all of us to follow.

We carry the same truth, speak the same Gospel, live amongst the same pagan perspectives that He and they encountered and tried to endure. They were killed despite trying to make every effort to live at peace with everyone. Why? Because those efforts ended where the truth begins. That truth, His Word, the inerrant Word of God shall not be infringed. Not for anything.

Not even peace.

Because again, peace is priceless, so much so that we should seek it as earnestly as we can. But it's also too priceless to allow this fallen world to set the exchange rate. This world doesn't determine peace. He paved that path. And as His hands and feet, we walk in His way, not the ways of this world.

There's this ongoing overcomplicating of everything in life anymore. Nothing can be allowed to simply remain simple. It's gotta be twisted and turned and turned around and torn down and flipped wrong side out so that it can become what it is that's wanted by those who feel the need to want something special. The world makes everything so hard so that all of us will fall short of their expectations. Even peace.

We see this in all this rampant ridiculousness that's raging all around us. No longer can someone speak the truth in love as the truth is consider hate-speech. We can't share our faith because it might hurt the feelings of others who don't share it. We're told to walk softly so as to not rouse those resting upon immoral laurels. And the big stick ain't welcome anymore.

Because that's not nice. It's not loving to "beat someone over the head" with the truth. That's all we're seen as doing anymore in all we do that's done unto the calling we have from the One. We're overbearing, rude and inconsiderate, unloving and far from peaceful. And that's just the judgements levied upon our words spoken in truth.

Again, this world doesn't know peace as shown in that even truthful words are now grounds for hatred and dismissal. And that's why we must learn to be very careful in regard to just how far we go to make peace in this place. Because make no mistake, peace can always be found, but sometimes it's so low that it's only at a place we can't go.

The lies and deception that this world demands are where our every effort to live at peace must end. Because the peace we bring clearly can't change everyone. It should. The image of the cross ought to inspire humility which is a clearly necessary ingredient to peace. A person must be first humble in order to overlook the offense that prevents peace. But that's clearly not possible on a large scale. Never was.

He tried. He did more than we ever can. He did it all better than we ever will. And yet all that display of humility and love and compassion and grace was lost on those living as if this place is their home and therefore the determiner of their definition of peace.

And that's my point: This world does not define peace nor how best we go about making it. He gave us His truth, called us to follow His example, expects us to love others. We see this in John 14:27 where He says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” His peace and the world’s version are not the same. He gave us His peace for us to share with the world that needs to know His peace.

He gave us something different, something that cost Him something to give, something not worth losing or giving away if it means risking our ties with He who gave it. That’s why He also tells us to not let our hearts be troubled nor to be afraid. Because this world will impress upon us fear as a means of making us seek for their peace so we can avoid the pain. But that’s where the line is drawn by He who gave us His peace as well as the promise of a place prepared for us where that peace never ends.

So whether they like it or not, and like it they most certainly won’t, the world doesn't get a say as He's already said all we need to hear in order to do all we're here to do in order to be all He's made us to be through the cross which undoes everything we've been.

Friends, do all you can. Explore every possible avenue along which peace might be found. Do every possible thing you can try to live at peace in this place. Give peace and mercy and kindness every possible chance you can give them to work through the work we're here trying our best to not mess up. But always remember that there is a time for peace as much as there is a time for war.

And as Christ himself points out in Matthew 10:34, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” This road ahead, like His did, may well get sideways in many ways. Because the truth we still speak still divides, no matter how peacefully we present it.

Yes, peace should be our goal and we should do all we can to get there. But should that peace be possible only by our meeting the world's demand that we let go of the truth, of the narrow, of the purpose, of the passion, of the calling of our Savior, then we'll have known we tried. We tried.

But we cannot try past that place where His truth and our calling built upon it are expected to be compromised or infringed upon. We shall not let go of Him for anything or anyone, even if that were the only way peace were possible.

The fact is that we're heading into a storm. The heaviness is rising as the heat of hatred ramps up and closes in. It's not going to get better until after it's gotten far worse. And despite the promise of pain and persecution, that call to offer the other cheek whenever slapped on the one side still stands. Make every effort.

But holiness is still the measure of our faith. We are to try for peace, but we are to be holy. There's no trying in that. We are to be holy as He is holy, no questions asked, no meeting Him halfway. Be holy, and in that holiness, make for peace as much as possible.

And when that peace is found to be impossible without concession, let your peace return to you. Don't give it to the world who doesn't know what to do with it. Don't sell away what He's given us. The world will demand we do so. But that's one invitation we must decline.

We can decline it politely, but still it mustn't be allowed. Even if peace is lost in the aftermath.

In the end, the point is that we’re not here to go out of our way to rock the boat. But, when, not if, but when the world rocks the boat, we’re to be bold enough in our faith that we get out of it knowing that in holiness we’ve the chance to walk where the world won’t.

And please don’t overlook that last line as it might be the most crucial of all in this lesson. Peace is nice, so nice we’re called to fight for it doing whatever we can to achieve it. But when all is said and done, we can live without peace.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold