Know Jesus, Know Peace

Before leaving, our conversation began about how people may identify with certain ideologies and not be saved, not be a Christian, such as agreeing with political ideas or values within conservatism, enjoying community, or engaging in certain personal practices that may be similar to what Christians do, and yet those practices, understandings, and beliefs do not reflect true salvation, which is receiving, intimately knowing and being known by God through Jesus Christ, having His Spirit living within. We prayed that God would lead us and speak through us.

Upon leaving the car, across the street we saw a couple sitting on the front step of their door, who we approached and greeted, letting them know we were out to share God’s love with others, and I asked them what their experience with Christianity and specifically Jesus has been.

The woman explored the challenges she has faced in specifically aligning with a Christian perspective, sharing that she practices meditation and seeks to live in a way that she believes is in line with an ultimate moral and pragmatic good, but openly still struggles with choosing what is right and good and is plagued with wanting peace in conflictual relationships, which she shared her and her partner (the man sitting on the steps with her) were having at that very moment, reportedly not having spoken to one another for days. She said she struggles with Christianity and Christians because what she observes and believes is love, or loving, she has seen Christians not do in her own life and historically—the man also spoke likewise in that the crusades were a wedge for him to believe in the validity of Christianity as a movement that embodies the truth of God’s love—and I validated and reflected understanding that, from their perspective, it would be hard to agree with a Christian claiming to have an understanding of truth when observations of actions seem to run counter to understandings of love that they’ve seen lived out by others who do not claim Christianity. They agreed, feeling understood.

Segun offered that it can be abrasive when truth is spoken without love, and I gave the example of someone who accurately observes and reports that someone has lung cancer due to their lifestyle choices, but judgmentally and abrasively communicates the fact and links the upcoming consequence of their demise without an offer or connection of hope: “You have lung cancer and it’s because you chose to smoke and you’re going to die sooner than you needed to!” The couple agreed that that indeed captures truth being spoken without love.

Then, similar to a couples’ counseling session, we spent the next hour and a half exploring with them their situation, validating, empathizing, and giving insight and reflections in areas they were facing particular confusion, offering that from a biblical perspective, there are many places of overlap in their thinking and desires, such as a desire to live rightly but not having the power to do it on their own, where I shared my own salvation experience and expressing the difference experientially of being empowered by the Holy Spirit and having the understanding that right living is a responsibility of mine to pursue but it is external to myself and a gift that I get to experience because of the grace of God in Christ, as well as how that plays out in a marriage relationship.

I referenced how I recently spoke on the topic of Peace at our church and that the benefit of experiencing peace can only come after it has been fought and sacrificed for. We explored biblical teaching of valuing and honoring marriage by protecting it from outside and competing influences, the concept (and reality) of that often our struggles are not against one another but against a spiritual adversary that desires to bring division, and that when feeling negative emotions, productive action can actually be indirect and to God rather than direct and at another person.

Before our time together ended, Segun offered a to draw a concept for them—the woman kindly offered chalk for Segun’s two boys to draw with during our time together—and he drew a triangle with ‘Christ’ at the top, using two dots to indicate two people. “This can be us and our partner. At the bottom we may experience separateness, but as we draw near to Christ, what happens?”

“We get closer to each other,” the man responded.

I asked if there were something based on what was shared they would like prayer for, and the man said peace, and the woman likewise was desirous of help, saying, “look, honey, they’re offering us prayer,” as if directing attention to the Providential nature of the encounter during their conflict. They felt cared for and expressed desire to come to our church. We concluded with prayer, holding hands, asking God for healing, restoration, clarity for next steps, that Jesus would bring abundant life and the destruction of the things of the devil and any footholds in their lives, and for the Prince of Peace to bring His peace in their hearts and relationship, in Jesus name.

As I am typing this, I find God’s guiding and timing impeccable—the week before during Evangelism, we happened to stumble upon a ‘peace pole’ in Wilsonville, which I found originates from a Japanese universalist philosophy with roots in buddhism called Byakko Shinko Kai, based on self-enlightenment whose founder, although claims Jesus to be a 'true saint and messenger of God,' sought to provide an interpretation of the New Testament that shows Jesus as an example for humanity to be guided into peace and harmony rather than as a fulfillment of Messianic prophesy as the Son of God who atones for sin and reconciles humanity back to the father through faith in and a receiving of Him as Lord.

From his own writings, he states:

“I cannot help but find it unendurable when some Christians take an exclusivist and self-righteous attitude, for it squeezes the vast, unconditional love of God into the narrow framework of conventional Christianity, and peers out at the universe from this very restricted viewpoint. […] I would like to see fewer people who cling to ideas of prophecy and more who use the Gospels as a guide for attuning themselves to the laws of the universe and developing firm courage and a bright, amiable disposition while naturally going about their daily lives.”

And yet, ironically, to those who attempt to become disciples of this ambiguous mode of living without receiving Jesus and becoming a true Christian, they are cutting themselves off from the very source of the life and peace they so seek to experience themselves and propagate in the world.

Because people are unwilling to believe the Bible’s foundational claims on reality and truly receive Christ as He says He is—the Messianic atonement for sin, the Son of God—they are unable to receive true reconciliation with God, nor His indwelling presence and power that works mightily in our lives and in the world through us.

Anyone who doesn’t accept Jesus as Lord, this couple included, will regrettably miss out on experiencing true peace unless they enter through this narrow gate of Jesus.

John 10:7-10: Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

John 14:6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Although a narrow gate, it is swung wide open for anyone who would enter. To any who would believe and receive Jesus, he accepts openly. There is no pedigree needed to enter His gate, only a humility to be willing to accept that His life and death and resurrection are real and for you personally. This makes the exclusivity beautiful, and peace-bringing: All have sinned and fall short of God's standards, and:

"all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." (Romans 3:24-28)

All who accept this reality are saved, children of God, who receive, and then are privileged to propagate, real Peace.

2 Timothy 2:19: Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

Pray for Danielle and Kyle with us, that they would indeed Know Jesus, and so Know Peace, and experience and share the abundant life that only He can bring!

Peace pole at City Hall in Wilsonville, Oregon