UNENDING PEACE

ISAIAH 9:7 (NLT)
His government and its peace
will never end.

EPHESIANS 2:14 (CEB)
Christ is our peace.

THE ESSENCE
Christ is our unending peace.

DAILY FODDER
If we dig deeper into the prophecy of Isaiah 9:7, we see that the anticipated king would bring both peace and justice. If Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy, why is there so much injustice and lack of peace in the world? 

   Three possibilities:

1. The prophecy was talking about someone other than Jesus.
2. Jesus was only interested in providing people with inner peace—a spiritualized redefinition of peace.
3. Christ Jesus came to inagurate a kingdom of peace and justice, but that kingdom hasn't arrived in its fullness, yet.

For a number of reasons I go with #3. Jesus brings real peace to all who accept it now. But there is more coming when he returns to govern the world. In the in-between time, we represent his coming government and in partnership with him model its values—including a passion for peace and justice.

PRAYER
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
   where there is hatred, let me sow love;
   where there is injury, pardon;
   where there is doubt, faith;
   where there is despair, hope;
   where there is darkness, light;
   where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
   to be consoled as to console,
   to be understood as to understand,
   to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
   it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
   and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen. 

(Prayer commonly attributed to St Francis of Assisi)

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who have wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.