Peace Devotion

Today is the day that my devotional entry appears in our church's advent devotional guide. So, if you don't go to the church, or you do but forgot to read the devotion for today, here it is!

If there’s one Hebrew word you know, it’s this one: shalom. We generally understand peace as the absence of conflict; although, this is a pretty accurate definition of the English term, it is far from accurate in regards to the Hebrew. Shalom is much more. Shalom means wholeness and completeness (in every way: safety, soundness in body, welfare, health, prosperity and connection). Shalom is the presence of God’s goodness in the lives of his people.

One Jewish theological understanding of shalom says that Shalom was created in the Garden as we had perfect connection with God and each other. When sin entered, shalom was lost, and the whole of scripture illustrates the quest to regain the shalom lost in the garden.

Jesus came to restore that which was lost in the garden. Not just peace, but shalom… the presence of God’s goodness. Another verse puts it this way: “Make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life” (Psalm 51:10 MSG). Jesus came to repair the break in our relationship with God so that we could once again be wholly, completely, and shamelessly connected.

In this time of advent, as we await the birth of something needed and new, remember that Jesus came to reestablish the kingdom of peace in the world. As members of that kingdom we must be agents of peace in a world where brokenness and separation is King. We must live lives of connection with God and others so that the peace of God invades the world around us, a world that is crying out for the one thing it cannot create: Shalom.
Today, forgive, apologize, heal, connect and bless others as you have been blessed, be a peacemaker in a broken world.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and the love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: And the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be amongst you and remain with you always.

Prayer:
God fill me with your shlom, and allow me to be an agent of your shalom in my world today. Open my eyes that I might see your opportunities all around so that I can bless others as I have been blessed.