peace and gratitude

Col. 3:15 (NLT)
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Let’s look at words. “Peace” comes from a word meaning to “umpire.” “Give a prize in the end.” Peace is the outcome of Jesus declaring us “innocent” in the eyes of God. Then what do we do?

The word “heart” and “will” may be interchanged here. Our “will” dictates the choices we make. When Jesus rules our choices, the peace we obtain from being forgiven is the fuel for us to live on in community with other disciples. Then we can live in peace together and be a model for the world. Our differences don’t separate us from the peace we share when Jesus rules our choices.

This doesn’t mean we have warm fuzzy feelings for each other and approve of all viewpoints in the Christian family. There are some real differences. It does mean we find ways to focus on what we have in common. What is the core?

Jesus is God raised from the dead and ruling in his Kingdom now, giving access to that Kingdom life to all who have confidence in him to rule in their own lives. If you give your heart, your will, your choices over to the fact of the resurrection and the rule of Jesus now, then there is only one lifestyle left. Thankfulness. It seems like Paul’s little throw-away phrase, but it wraps everything together.

“(‘By the way,’) And always be thankful.”

Gratitude is the pillar of reality. Do you want to live the good life? Build it on gratitude for what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do forever. Christians who focus on what is wrong with the world are looking in the wrong direction. It becomes an obsession. This appears to happen in two ways. Obsessing on the personal choices and lifestyles of those who don’t follow Jesus or obsessing on the human institutions and structures that are the seat of temporary control of this world. Note how related this is to the ways of sin Paul spoke of earlier. Pursuing pleasure (“I want what I want when I want it”) or pursuing control (“It’s my world”).

There is only one cause worthy of a Christian’s full passion. Learning from Jesus in any way available to become the kind of person he would be if he were me in any given situation. A situation I can face in gratitude because I know Jesus is in charge.