Ask a Westerner to define \u201cpeace,\u201d and chances are they\u2019ll say something to the tune of \u201cno more fighting.\u201d Webster would agree. The dictionary definition of peace is \u201cfreedom from civil disturbance; a state of security or order within a community; harmony in personal relations.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason we view peace primarily as an absence of conflict. The word itself has a fascinating history. It comes from the Latin pax,<\/em> which was the Roman goddess of peace. When Augustus came to power, he built his political empire around pax.<\/em> He raised statues and ordered that she be worshipped. He minted coins with his face on one side, and an image of pax<\/em> on the other \u2013 the idea being that Augustus alone could bring peace. How? Through military brutality. Through the power of the emperor to defeat every foreign threat and usher in the era of the Pax Romana,<\/em> the Roman peace.<\/p>\n The political and militaristic overtures of our English definition of \u201cpeace\u201d run down to its very roots. An ironic history of violence. The problem is not that our western understanding of peace is inaccurate. The problem is that it\u2019s too small. To define peace as \u201cnot fighting\u201d is like defining love as \u201cnot killing.\u201d It\u2019s not wrong; it\u2019s just woefully insufficient.<\/p>\n The Jewish people had a richer perspective of peace. They didn\u2019t see it merely as the absence of conflict, but as the presence of beauty, abundance, wholeness, and completion. To them, peace was shalem,<\/em> the root word for Jerusalem (the \u201cCity of Peace\u201d), and the word from which we derive the Hebrew shalom.<\/em><\/p>\n Understanding Shalem<\/strong><\/p>\n Put simply, shalem<\/em> is the fullness of God. In Ephesians 3:18-19, Paul prays that the believers in Ephesus may have strength together with all the saints to grasp the depth of Christ\u2019s love \u2013 a love which defies knowledge \u2013 so that they may be \u201cfilled with all the fullness of God.\u201d Interestingly, Paul isn\u2019t urging them to be independently whole, but rather, to experience the fullness of God within the broader context of the church \u2013 \u201ctogether with all the saints,\u201d or we could say, the people of God.<\/p>\n We won\u2019t grasp the fullness of God\u2019s power or the depth of His love, living in isolation.<\/p>\n We were made to experience these things together with God\u2019s holy people. But how do we know a love that transcends knowledge? This is an experiential knowing, akin to David\u2019s cry in Psalm 34:8, \u201cOh, taste and see that the Lord is good!\u201d<\/p>\n Looking Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n I believe that over the next few years people need to be hearing about the fullness of God. They need to know that God has more and better for them. I would love for people in Central Florida to hear \u201cGrace Church\u201d and think \u201chelp.\u201d I\u2019d love for them to know that if their life is unraveling, there\u2019s a place where they can find biblical teaching and healing.<\/p>\n No matter how we define peace, at the end of the day, we\u2019re longing for more than just an absence of conflict. In counseling, when a couple has stopped fighting because they just don’t care anymore, it\u2019s not a sign of peace. It\u2019s a sign the marriage is over. The absence of conflict isn\u2019t the goal of a marriage, church, society, or an individual\u2019s private life. The goal is shalem.<\/em> It\u2019s belonging. Virtue. Vulnerability. Trust. Completion. Blessing. Connection. Anticipation and satisfaction. It\u2019s the fullness of God for which we were created.<\/p>\n Imagine an entire city of Christians who lived the more beautiful story of shalem.<\/em> Who didn\u2019t just tell people to stop cheating or drinking, but who pointed them in the direction of Jesus. A city of Christians who \u2013 united \u2013 grasped not only the power of God but the surpassing love of Christ, and poured that love \u2013 the very fullness of God \u2013 over every single person they met. The whole city would be changed. The whole world would be changed.<\/p>\n Join us online<\/a> or in-person<\/a> to learn more about Living in the Fullness of God,<\/a> a 4-week series at Grace.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ask a Westerner to define \u201cpeace,\u201d and chances are they\u2019ll say something to the tune of \u201cno more fighting.\u201d Webster would agree. The dictionary definition of peace is \u201cfreedom from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":104554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,23,46,28,105,106,38],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-102395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-study","8":"category-christian-life","9":"category-magazine","10":"category-message-series","11":"category-sin","12":"category-spiritual-growth","13":"category-theology"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n