Follow Peace

By Lisa Crum


Being of a Pentecostal background, as many of you also are, I've heard the words "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" preached in many a sermon from my childhood up. I'd like to, however, expand the text to include all of that verse. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" (Hebrews 12:14) And just for this writing, I want to stress the peace part, (simply because it tends to be overlooked) while not discounting the importance of the holiness part.

Peace and holiness are twins. I've often heard my Sunday School teacher, the late Edith Mahon, refer to "goodness and mercy" in Psalm 23 as if they were two people, two personalities or spirits if you will, traveling with the believer. Well, may I interject that peace and holiness are in that same way interconnected. In order to have either, you need both. I'd further say that if you'll follow peace and holiness, goodness and mercy will follow you. Follow peace. Follow peace and holiness. So what's the deal about following peace?

Peace will lead you places you probably wouldn't choose to go if you were charting the course. Example: Someone at work who has made your life less than pleasant has just messed up-badly. The flesh cries out for you to leap on this opportunity to cut that person down to size. It says, "Now's your chance to get ahead. Dig in the spur! It's your right--no, it's your duty, to point this out to the boss!" Oh, how easily we can convince ourselves we're doing the right thing when we want justification for our actions, but God knows our hidden motives. Peace will choose not to go there. Peace will keep quiet about the matter, and will stand on the promise that promotion comes from the Lord. Peace will declare that every tongue which rises up in accusation against us will be shown to be in the wrong. Peace will pass up a "golden opportunity" like this to achieve a greater end. No wonder the Bible says to follow peace! Chances are, if you're in a pickle, you just passed peace traveling in the northbound lane while you were headed south.

Peace is an investment whose returns are sometimes not seen immediately. It's the great law of sowing and reaping at work again. Ever hear it said, that the very person you treat badly will be the person you'll need to call on for help? It's so true. That guy who accidentally cut you off in traffic today (you know-the one you really gave a good "blessing out" to through the windshield of your car!) may be the very guy you'll have to flag down to help you change a flat tire tomorrow. Follow peace. Resolve that petty rivalry with a schoolmate before you graduate. A few years from now, she may be teaching your eight-year-old! And before you get in debt up to your eyeballs searching for fulfillment, pray about all those "must have this to be happy" prospects, and honestly ask yourself if the end result is peace. Be willing to say no if God says no-sometimes more is not better. Remember, if something's truly a blessing from Him, the Word says that there is no sorrow added with it. If it's not, you'd do well to cast your bread on other waters.

You have to want peace to have peace. I've often said that peace will not jump up and bite the seat of your pants! It won't force its way into your life. If you want peace, you have to chase it down, run after it, seek it with everything you have. You have to crave it. Ever notice that stink-stirrers can rarely breathe easily? If you don't want peace, it's not going to barge in unannounced. People often ask what the secret to Dana's and my happy marriage is. My answer is, in this order, that we love God, we love each other, and that we love peace. We've learned that nothing generates a loving, sweet atmosphere like striving for peace. It's a two-way street of course, but by determining to be kind and considerate to one another every day, we've lived nearly a decade together without a single fight. Believe it or not. That doesn't mean we see eye-to-eye on everything, but we each choose not to open the door to marital discord for the sake of being the one with the last word in. We're as blissful as two newlyweds. That, friends, is the payoff of peace.

Peace strikes through just about every phrase that begins with self and a hyphen. Now there's a doozy -- where'd that come from? But it's true. If you think peace is just that cozy cabin by Lake Cares-Be-Gone, think again! How amazing, that peace is both an end as well as a means to an end! Sure, peace is that feeling of serenity and calm, of well-being and safety. It's restful and relaxing. But peace is also as much an action word as is love. Hmmm, peace actually follows love in the lineup of the fruit of the Spirit! It eradicates all notions of me-first. Peace favors putting others before self. Peace does what is right versus what feels right. And having done so, what do you then feel? Peace!

Is peace a wimp, cop-out, beaten down, take-everybody's-junk kind of lifestyle? Is peace a weakling's way? Most assuredly not! Peace sometimes seems to be a paradox. We go to war to defend peace. Jesus' way of ushering in light was to drive out darkness vehemently. Peace is not for the cowardly. Peace isn't the wide path that leads to destruction; it's straight and narrow. It demands discipline and determination, courage and conviction; it shouts justice from the mountaintops and all the while whispers in a still small voice. It's the calm center of the hurricane, stable even though all around it is chaos.

So where does holiness come in? Having taken hold of peace, you suddenly find yourself also being led by that second, distinct entity. Remember, these two are joined at the hip. If you're striving to be a person of peace, you're without a doubt going to be more like the Prince of Peace. And hey, this Guy wrote the Book on holiness...

Scripture Of The Day: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You." - Isaiah 26:3



Lisa Crum is a freelance writer and Christian songwriter. She is a staff member at Regional Church of God in Delbarton, WV, where she serves as administrative/ pastoral assistant as well as in music ministry. For more information about Lisa Crum, visit http://www.regionalchurch.org.