God-centered Living

(This reflection is one of the short chapters from a larger project I’m writing on the multifaceted beauty of the Gospel, which happens to contain a chapter on each of the four Advent themes. Each week of Advent, I’m sharing a different “facet” of the good news through the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.)

      The Source

God is the God of peace (Rom. 15:33). From the beginning, he created a world of harmony, not strife. Adam and Eve walked in perfect fellowship with him and with one another; they were naked and unashamed, free of conflict, anxiety, or fear. “Shalom” in the Bible means more than calm; it is wholeness, flourishing, the harmonious ordering of all things under God. To be in right relationship to him is to be at peace. Every other form of peace flows out from that relationship.

   The Loss

But sin shattered peace at its deepest level: peace with God. Once Adam and Eve rebelled, they hid from him, ashamed and afraid. The fellowship was broken, and enmity replaced intimacy. That breach with God spilled outward: Adam blamed Eve, Cain killed Abel, nations rose against nations. Inside all of us, guilt and fear gnaw at our souls. We feel the fracture everywhere—in wars, in broken families, in anxious hearts—but we often miss the root. Every experience of unrest, conflict, or hostility is a ripple of a deeper reality: we have lost peace with God.

   The Futile Response

Sensing the turmoil, we manufacture our own solutions but ignore the Source. We assume humans are the beginning and end of peace, so we negotiate treaties, treat therapy as a savior, and pursue inner calm without reconciliation to God. Some seek peace by avoidance, pretending conflict isn’t there. Others attempt control, forcing others into compliance. Still others numb their unease with substances, noise, or fantasy worlds of entertainment. And on the large scale, nations and cultures dream of utopia: harmony built without God. But all these solutions are illusions, like living in a virtual world while the real one is collapsing. They blind us to our true conflict. Without reconciliation with God, both inner peace and outer peace remain impossible.

   The Consequence

The ultimate consequence of ignoring the only true Source of peace is to be left in hostility forever. Scripture says, “The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God” (Rom. 8:7). Hell is the final and permanent state of that enmity: no reconciliation, no harmony, no inner calm. All illusions of peace must be stripped away, leaving the soul in unending hostility with God, others, and itself. “‘There is no peace,’” says my God, “‘for the wicked’” (Isa. 57:21).

   The Substitution

ButGod, in his endless mercy, sent his Son to bring us peace. On the cross, Jesus absorbed the hostility we could never resolve. Vertically, he bore the wrath of God, reconciling us to the Father. Horizontally, he endured the enmity of men—mocked, betrayed, and crucified by Jew and Gentile alike. He did this all to bring reconciliation to his very own enemies (Rom. 5:10). In his flesh, he dismantled every barrier between us and God; God’s judgment against us fell on him, and the hostility that divides us was nailed to the cross. “He himself is our peace… who has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14). He was forsaken so that we might be welcomed, condemned so that we might be justified, and abandoned so that we might belong. The judgment that shatters our peace fell on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5). For all who receive this peace by faith alone, the warring is ended—between God and man, among men themselves, and within our own hearts.

   The Resurrection

Onthe third day, Jesus rose again, and his first words to his disciples were, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). The resurrection declared that the war was over, the victory won, reconciliation accomplished. Peace is not wishful thinking but a reality secured in the risen Christ.

   The Transformation

Through faith alone, we have peace with God (Rom. 5:1), and this reconciliation becomes the source of every other kind of peace. As we joyfully submit to God in prayer, he guards our hearts and minds with a peace that “surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (Isa. 26:3). Peace with God quiets the war in our hearts and overflows into peace with others. As we grow in our understanding of the justice of God which makes peace possible, we are freed to extend grace and peace to others. Though we once only sought to resolve conflict on a human level, we now find that peace with God is the fountainhead from which all other harmony flows.

   The Consummation

One day, the Prince of Peace will return to restore all things, and peace will be complete. Swords will be beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks (Isa. 2:4). The wolf will dwell with the lamb (Isa. 11:6). “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain” (Isa. 11:9). Every relationship will be healed, every enmity ended, every inner war forever silenced. In the new creation, God’s people will dwell in perfect shalom forever.

   The Call

The Gospel commands us to lay down our arms and receive the peace of God. Be reconciled to God through Christ alone (2 Cor. 5:20). Are you continually trying to secure peace through human solutions, while ignoring the deeper war between you and God? Are you still blind to the true source of your turmoil? Or are you resting in the One who has made true peace by the blood of his cross (Col. 1:20)? Only in him can you know real and lasting peace. Without him, every peace is a fragile illusion. In him, peace is eternal, unbreakable, and yours forever.

   The Application

The Good News of peace reconciles our lives today:

• When anxiety rises within you: Remember that your inner turmoil is quelled not by your self-effort but by God’s abiding presence.
• When relationships feel strained: Remember that every human conflict is downstream from our conflict with God. Because he has reconciled you to himself, you are freed and empowered to pursue reconciliation with others.
• When the world feels unstable or hostile: Remember that true peace is not found in political progress, social harmony, or utopian dreams, but in Christ who has already overcome the world.

Reflection Questions:

1. Where do you most feel hostility or conflict in your life?
2. What false peacemaking strategies do you instinctively reach for when you feel unrest?
3. How would your relationships change if you lived daily from the peace you already have in Christ?

In Christ, the war is over, and I share in God’s eternal peace.