Upfront January 3, 2011 Issue

Let’s wage peace

Jenny Nelles, Staff Editor

It’s tempting to think of peace as something manufactured through painstaking human tactics—born out of moments where parties or nations say, “Truce.” 

But in daily life, we regularly witness peace in modest ways. A family gathering where everyone suddenly gets along. An effort to include the “new kid” during gym class at school. Customers waiting patiently behind a person with lots of questions at the bank. 

As our lead writer, Bill Moody, points out, peace is not passive and doesn’t need to be the product of a struggle. There is a way to naturally “wage peace”—with the confidence that it’s here to stay—when we recognize its source. This can only ripple out to bless the world. He says: “For the Christian, it’s not merely a choice to have peace. It’s a commitment to follow Jesus’ counsel to be peacemakers—that is, to wage peace, strive for it, pray for it, live for it” (p. 15). And “in the absolute sense, you and I don’t actually create peace, because real peace is already created. It is established by the law of God, and the Bible assures us: ‘Great peace have they which love thy law’ ” (Ps. 119:165).

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