THE ANTIDOTE TO A WAR-TORN WORLD is love. Not just the highest articulation of human selfless love, though that is not excluded. Instead, the divinely inspired unconditional love that is only possible for us when we are rightly-related to God through Christ. The first expression is elevated and perfected by the second. It is this kind of love that brings the force of God’s Spirit to bear upon the spiritual warfare between people—and nations—in the lower realm, and to sweep darkness away in a flood of light.
“God is love,” says John. (1 John 4:16b) He also tells us that It is God who sent Jesus in love to this sin-ruined world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) John adds that “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)
Jesus, in the night before proving his love and perfecting your and my redemption on the cross, tells his disciples, then and now, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13) Should we then, following Jesus, Stephen, and most of the early apostles and so many others across the millennium, become martyrs?
The vast majority of first-world Christians will never be called/forced into literal martyrdom. Even though the world around us is rapidly changing (clearly, the nuclear Doomsday Clock is closer now to midnight than ever, with all that this portends), we still dwell in places that are blithely drawing down the accumulated benefits of centuries of democracy. The façade is rapidly crumbling, however, for those “with the eyes to see.” (Matt. 13:15) Even so, we can choose to become willing martyrs in the personal realm where we die to ourselves that Christ might live within us. (c.f. Gal. 3:20)
It is about this ongoing process of the perfection of the love of God working through us that Paul speaks in the Book of Romans. “Love must be sincere,” he says. (Rom. 12:9) A lexical commentary on this verse says, *“to the point of genuine love for fellow believers.” Paul goes on to show what such a love looks like in practice.
To fellow Christians, he says, “Be devoted to one another… Honor one another. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Practice hospitality.” (Rom. 12:10-13) Christians are not yet perfected people, and Paul wisely confronts this. “Bless those who persecute you, and do not curse. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be conceited.” (Rom. 12:14-16)
Then Paul’s scope of Christian conduct broadens. We are not to act like people driven by the values of this world, repaying “evil for evil.” (Rom. 12:17) Instead, we are to show by example the proof of our salvation by the sanctifying work of our Spirit-led souls. “Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.” (Rom. 12:18) Peter expands this thought: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Pet. 2:12) It seems reasonable that both these apostles learned this from Jesus. “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)
On this matter of greater-than-self personal conduct, Paul adds, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Rom. 12:18) As we contemplate this, we’re called to sober self-analysis. Is this both feasible and viable for me; what will it cost me to do this? But these are the wrong questions. Jesus tells us that, “With God, all things are possible.” (Matt 26:19) Such supernatural behavior does not depend upon us, but instead is contingent on whom we depend. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13)
The manifestation of real peace doesn’t depend first and foremost on a worldly quid-pro-quo basis with others. That exchange will always be subject to the resentments of a perceived imbalance of effort. It depends, from God’s view, on an unconditional love for others, even—perhaps especially—our enemies. Jesus teaches, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44)
The bittersweet truth is that not all, perhaps not even many, will respond to our best expression of our highest, lowly, other-than-self, love. We are dealing in the arena of the ages-old wound of humanities’ sin-separation from God – too much damage to heal in the moment. So there are several possibilities of outcome to our outstretched and open hand. The best secular advice begins with **“above all else, first do no harm.” On a sliding scale, the next, a biblical value, not exclusive of the first, is reconciliation where there has been wound. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32) It’s about choice and intention, and you and I have what we need to do this. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Pet. 1:3)
These first two aspects we have no control over, but we can exert judicious influence within them. There is, however, one aspect over which we have total control, and that is how we act, react, and interact in ways that honor God and at the same time preserve our own peace. We may not be able to influence world peace, but we can be shapers of our own world of peace. “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” (Isa. 26:3) Take a breath, and keep in step with the Lord. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
Q. Am I a peacemaker? (c.f. Matt. 5:9)
*Louw Nida #73.8
**Hippocratic oath.
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