The word “peace” has been a theme for me this week. Not necessarily because I’ve had it. But because it’s something God has been trying to give to us and we’ve been looking away.

What is peace?

Peace is an ideal. Therefore, it is something we can approach in reality at varying levels. We can be very far from it, or we can be very close to it, or somewhere in between. I don’t think we can be perfectly at peace on this of of heaven, but we can get pretty darn close.

Now, lots of times when we talk about peace, we talk about it on an individual level. Peace with self, peace with others, peace with where I’m at in the world. But Peace, the ideal, includes, ultimately the whole human race.

Peace is a state in which there is no strife, no power struggle, no restless fight for something that was lost.

Peace is, ideally, a reality. But until it’s a reality, it must be a state of mind, so that as we, with a peaceful state of mind, pursue peace, it will soon become a reality. Of course, we can’t even desire or have peace without Jesus, the Prince of Peace. He is our only source of real peace.

Without a sovereign, loving God, we can have no peace in this chaotic world. It will merely be a struggle for power and survival and life. But our God is a God who holds life and peace and justice and mercy in His hands… and He gives them all freely to those who will receive Him as their life’s authority.

This year, like many years before, I have seen personally and nationally that God is shaking foundations we stand on, so that we stop standing on those and start standing on something solid. Many of the cultural assumptions we make, and the assumptions about who we are and what God wants from us… are kind of like Jello. They’re really not stable, and if God doesn’t shake them now, then we’re gonna be in a lot more hurt later when we’re drowning hopelessly and regretfully inside the Jell-O instead of sinking into His grace.

Are we settling for false peace?

In a pluralistic nation, it’s easy to “tolerate” other people by being, in a sense, ignorant of what they believe at their core, and settling only for the common ground that we’re all people. But what is the fate of these people? If there really is an afterlife, then simply “tolerating” my friends who don’t know Jesus… well, that’s not enough. I need to love them radically enough to care that the foundation of their worldview may very well be Jell-O. And it will hurt them more later, if I don’t speak up, than if I reveal in love what may be a painful truth.

Even politically, many nations in the Middle East are experiencing peace about as strong as, well, whipped cream floating in the ocean. Once a wave comes along, everything will dissolve.

I’ve been reading the book of Haggai, which I’ve never read before, since it’s a minor prophet with a funny name, and I figured it would be confusing. But it wasn’t. It’s really straightforward. Haggai was called by God to approach the government officials in his city and rebuild the house of the Lord. In this time, the house was literally a temple. But it represented, just as it does today, the presence and priority of God’s Spirit in the city.

These people were so busy building their own houses (again, literally), that they didn’t allot any time or resources to building God’s house. They are building their own little kingdoms. And of this, God observes: “You have planted much, but harvested little.”

There is nothing that robs my peace more than working my butt off doing something and finding nothing has come of it.

Nobody wants this. Not in their job, not in their workouts, not in any of their efforts.

Do you ever feel like you’re just spinning your wheels?

As is apparent in the story of Haggai, it is not God’s will for you to spin your wheels. God wants you to be successful in what you do… but the only way you’ll be building something solid, instead of trying to build a house out of Jell-O… is if you’re building His house. Here are some points on a peace map. Where are you at in your kingdom-mindedness?

  • If you’re building your own house to the neglect of God’s house (the Church, or the growth in quantity and quality of believers in your city)… stop, and bring this to God in repentance. If you’re worried about the prosperity of your own house, then there is a lack of trust there. As harsh as this may seem, you need to let go of your own needs and trust in God’s sovereign provision — a provision that can often occur in a way you couldn’t have anticipated. It doesn’t seem logical that building another House will suddenly build your house as well. But I swear to you, and so did Jesus, that if you “seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, all these things will be added to you.” Ask Him to help you really believe this today.
  • If you’re building His house and not seeing fruit, I urge you to examine your motives. Are you ministering out of your own need for security, rather than out of an overflow of peace? Don’t try to just change; bring this to God in repentance and depend on Him, not yourself, for a change of heart.
  • If you’re building His house and not seeing fruit, and you have examined your motives… be patient. Something is coming.

What kind of house are you building?

I’m asking myself this as I’m building my own company. As I’m waking up in the morning and deciding whether I should start my day with anxiety (and maybe an extra half hour of work) instead of trusting God with my day and sitting down at His feet to hear what He wants me to do with my time.

(Even as I’m writing this, I got an idea for a video script I have to write up, which I would not have gotten if God had not urged me to make the right decision!)

I’ll conclude today with a passage that embodies the vision we all should pursue this week. It’s a vision of an ideal place. The kingdom. He is the Lord Almighty – The Lord above all things – and He will reign in His kingdom.

And as we envision that place, we will watch it flow from us.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘In a little while I will once more shake
the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
I will shake all nations,
and what is desired by all nations will come,
and I will fill this house with glory,’
says the Lord Almighty.
‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’
declares the Lord Almighty.
‘The glory of this present house will be greater than
the glory of the former house,’
says the Lord Almighty.
‘And in this place
I will grant peace,’
declares the Lord Almighty.”

// Haggai 2:6-9
(emphasis mine)