God and you

Day 61

'For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.'

Ephesians 2:14-18

This verse just emphasises more of what I said yesterday. He destroyed the barrier - now everyone can know God. Through him we have access to the Father, no matter who we are, where we come from and what we do. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit as a way to help us know God more, do his will and get closer to him. All this because He died on the cross. It's all right to say, 'oh yeah, Jesus died on the cross for all our sins and that', but imagine the pain he would have gone through! His hands were pierced with nails, and he hung on pretty much a torture instrument for several hours, with a crown of thorns upon his head. And this was for no reason whatsoever. All he did was say he was the son of God, which he was, so really he was executed because people didn't like him that much for saying what he said.

This bible verse talks a lot about peace, and Jesus preaching peace. But where does peace come into Christianity? Nowadays, there are loads of different things that make up peace. People dream of World Peace, yet at that moment there are thousands of people being killed in wars. You think back to World War 1, and World War 2, or the fighting going on today in countries such as Syria. What good ever came of fighting and war?

With Christianity, peace isn't all just about stopping wars and fighting. Peace is something that needs to happen in your own city, your own neighbourhood, your own house! I believe that when Jesus was teaching about peace, he simply wanted people to get along, and love one another. He didn't want people to riot in the streets, and to hurt each other. He just wanted peace.

And today, there are so many moments when you see people hurting one another, either physically or mentally, that kind of just looks normal. I mean, all those times when you see people saying how stupid someone is, and putting them down, you don't think, 'Oh, what an awful thing to say' (probably not in a posh voice like that though). You just see that as normal life, what usually happens on a day like this about a million times. If you guys don't have this problem, then think yourselves lucky, because I see it around me a lot of the time.

But what can we do about it? Well, we can be the peace. We can show love, and kindness to one another, instead of gossiping, and making someone feel bad. And if people see us acting like this, then they might realise that it's a much better way to act, and they might change their ways. It's like infecting everyone with peace and kindness, and love and joy. This probably sounds really cheesy, doesn't it? But still. We can be the change. Even cheesier.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for peace, and that we can restore it, and that there doesn't have to be fighting all the time. Thank you for dying on the cross, and for breaking the barrier, so that everyone can know you. Please calm the wars and fighting going on in the world now. Please help the people doing it realise how much pain they are giving people, and know that they could be doing something much better. Please help me to be the peace, and let others know that the best thing to go about doing is not to put other down, but to put them up.

Amen