God was pleased
to…[make] peace through [Jesus’] blood, shed on the cross.
– Colossians 1:19
“Why can’t
people just get along with each other?” We’ve heard this sad lament, and many
of us have uttered it.
The brokenness
strewn everywhere around is so weighty. Marriages unravel. Homes disintegrate.
Children run away. Negotiations break down. Churches split. Employees walk out or get booted out. Courts
clog. Mediation specialists try to untie the tangled knots we tie. Wars and
terrorism are painful reminders that conflict seems never to cease.
But God has
determined that wars of every kind will cease – “to the ends of the
earth” (Psalm 46:9). And God has been “pleased” to do that, says Paul.
Operation Reconciliation is under way, every, even today. And someday perfect
friendship will reign every where. The sound and rumors of war will cease
forever.
How? By
bringing one antagonist after another to the foot of the cross. It’s hard to
hate, looking up at such love. It’s hard to hold a grudge, surrounded by such
forgiveness. It’s hard to demand that others be punished, watching Jesus’ blood
flow for our own punishment. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
In our Lord’s
love for all of us lies the hope that surely love, not hate, and peace, not war
will have the last word…..forever.
