Conflict or Peace

We are relational beings because God is relational and created us in His image. Without the peace only Christ gives us, relationships are broken. The relationship of my emotions, mind, and spirit is broken instead of in unity. Relationships with others are corrupted, and the relationship with God is distant or non-existent. Where there is no peace, conflict rages within us and without us.

Only Christ gives calming peace, and He gives peace through His love relationship with us.

Our Trinitarian God is relational. Father, Son, and Spirit. Three persons. One God in perfect unity and harmony.

In turn, God created us to be relational with Him and with others. In a relationship, we are connected to one another through common interests, goals, and desires. We are connected to one another emotionally, mentally, and in a spiritual way too. And, I am connected within myself emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 

The ancient Greeks had a descriptive word, philios, for how we connect in relationships.  This word made its way into the New Testament.

Philios describes the relationship that is connected through common interests, goals, and desires. Literally, it means brotherly love. When William Penn, a devout Christian and Quaker, founded the port city in his new colony of Pennsylvania, he named it Philadelphia from two Greek words.  Philios means brotherly love).  Delphia means city.  Thus, Philadelphia means "The city of brotherly love."

Philios is the ideal connection between two people or a group of people. It implies a common association or affiliation such as the blood kinship between brothers, siblings, and family. And, it goes beyond family affiliation to any person or group with whom we form relationships.

Philios also implies that to sustain the connection, mutual respect and understanding of one another is necessary if the relationship is to be healthy, edifying, and alive.

Another Greek word that expresses how we connect in relationships had to be invented by the New Testament writers because nothing in the Greek lexicon came even remotely close to capturing the relationship of love that God has for us.  So, they invented the word "agape."  Agape describes the love relationship that connects God with us.

Agape is beyond defining. This word is most often translated into "love" in English versions of the New Testament. But, the only way to comprehend the agape love relationship flowing from God to us is to demonstrate it.  Two verses come to mind.

Romans 5:8:  But God demonstrates His own love (agape) toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16: For God so loved (agape) the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In order to enter into a love relationship with us, God acted in the greatest demonstration possible to connect Himself with me and you. God the Son, the Son of God, gave Himself through suffering, humiliation, and death by way of crucifixion. In that act, God connects with us and brings us to Himself  through our faith. Theologians call this action "atonement."  But like agape, atonement cannot be defined. It has to be experienced. 

What is that atonement experience?  It is the experience of being accepted, affirmed, and loved (agape) by Christ which brings us into the love relationship with the Father making us at one (atonement) with God. This divine-human relationship fulfills and completes us emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. No other relationship can make us complete and accomplish the purpose for which we were made. That purpose is for the created to live in a love relationship with the Creator. 

God's love relationship with us received by faith brings peace to our conflicted soul and peace in our philios relationships. "For Christ himself is our peace, who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity thus making peace, and to reconcile us to God through the cross, by which he put to death our hostility" (Ephesians 2:14-16).

God is relational. He relates to Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. Three persons. One God in perfect peace, unity and harmony. He is not conflicted in any way. He is Peace, and only He can give peace.

God made us relational too. We relate inwardly within ourselves through emotion, mind, and spirit. Only in the love relationship with the Father through the Son with the Spirit abiding within is the composition of my emotional, mental, and spiritual parts in perfect harmony, unity, and peace in much the same way the triune God is in perfect harmony, unity, and peace with Himself. 

Without this completeness, oneness, and wholeness within me, unholy war breaks out in inner destructive conflicts.  Without the peace of God ruling in me, my mind wars against my emotions. My emotions war against my mind.  My spirit rages like a tempest. Peace alludes me.  My emotions and mind are left bloody and battered from fightings within me causing pain that is expressed through my body with muscle tension, headaches, stress, stomach upset, and heartache. 

Paul poignantly describes this inner conflict. "What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. The power of sin (over my mind and emotions) within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it (with my mind), but I can’t do it (because of my emotions). I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that
delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take

charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?" (Romans 7:14-24 MSG)

Moreover, the conflict spills out in other destructive battles.  Not only do I have emotional pain from my inner conflict, but I also hurt those with whom I am in a philios relationship. And, I war against God and am at odds with Him.

This is a terrible, unpleasant predicament.  Is there any way out? Yes, there is!  The way out is through Christ who brings us to wholeness because of  the love relationship the Father established through His agape love for us! "Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free!" (Romans 7:25).

An amazing redemptive transformation occurs in my emotions, mind, and spirit.  Instead of warring against each other, they are united in harmony and peace.  Instead of colliding with each other, they are aligned with each other working harmoniously together in me for my good and giving me stability in my mind, emotions, and spirit.

This is the way God intended for us to be from the beginning.  Just as He is in a harmonious and peaceful relationship with Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit, so He brings us to harmony and peace uniting our separate parts together in oneness and wholeness.   "My completeness is only realized in Christ, who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all powers" (Colossians 2:10 Phillips). It is a wonderful place to be that does not come by doing.  It comes by being in a love relationship with the Lord.

The peace given through God's love relationship with me is not affected by circumstances or by those in conflict with me. Just as the conflicts between humans and in humans do not effect the peace and oneness God has with Himself, so the peace from God in me is not touched by the conflicts of others or by their hostility toward me! A person can be in conflict with me, but I can be at peace with him/her and maintain the calming peace of God within me.  Amazing!

There are plenteous times when I must be mindful that Christ is in my boat when the storms rage on the sea of life. If I forget, fear causes me to fight back in my own strength to save myself out of the hostile assault that threatens my inner God-given peace. 

 

It is in God's love relationship with me that holds my emotions, mind, and spirit together in perfect unity. And through faith and submission to Christ by the power of His Spirit living in me, I allow His peace to reign and rule over my emotions.

You are called to possess a life of peace. "Even more than all this, clothe yourself in love. Love is what holds you together in perfect unity. Let the peace that Christ gives control and rule my thinking, because I am called to have peace" (Colossians 3:14-15). "If  my thinking is controlled by my sinful selfhood, there is death. But if my thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). 

God is the God of peace and NOT disorder (1 Corinthians 14:33).

Live in the peace God gives you through the indwelling Christ. Set your mind to it, and may the peace of Christ abide with you always.

Now, clear your mind of every conflict that takes away your peace and meditate in silence for several minutes upon the peace Christ gives. (Note: I find breathing exercises help. Exhale the conflict. Inhale the peace. Feel the calming peace of our Lord fill your mind, emotions, and spirit!)

After meditation, listen to "Let the Peace of God Reign" by Darlene Zschech and Hillsong. Click this link or click the arrow to the imbedded video.