A broken world in search of peace

It is sad that despite the peace that God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ the world is languishing in crises in this year and age. If I am to characterise our year and age, I will describe it as an age of uncertainty and turbulence, an age of terrorism and anxiety, the age of regional wars and conflicts, the age of fear and lack in the midst of plenty, the age of migration and the return of slavery. It is also a year of unfulfilled political promises and shattered expectation of the dividend of democracy.

A Cursory Look At Events
A survey of our world shows a helpless, broken and suffering world. We have suffered from extremes of elemental forces due to floods, typhoons, tornadoes and hurricanes in the US, the Caribbean, in Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and in Bangladesh.

We have wars in South Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Ukraine.We have alleged ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Myanmar, which shows how broken our world is. We saw earthquakes in Iran and other places. We witnesses economic instability in Nigeria, Congo, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. We saw political upheavals in Kenya, Liberia, Venezuela, Peru and the United States. We saw regional conflicts in the Middle East, in Syria, Iraq, Saudi, Yemen, Iran and Iraq.

For over 10 years, it has not been possible to reconvene the Middle East Peace negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians. What a paradox that Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the birthplace of our Lord Jesus have not known peace since the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by Donald Trump.

Within this year, the world saw the unearthing of massive corruption cases in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, the US, Venezuela, and Peru.Also, millions migrated from Africa, Asia and the Middle East to Europe and the America’s in search of safe havens and greener pastures.This is only an aerial view of the state of our world today.

Jesus, The Peace We All Need
In the midst of all these global uncertainties, Jesus has come to give us peace. Seven hundred years before his birth, the Prophet Isaiah had predicted that a Prince of Peace would be born (Isaiah 9:6). Unfortunately, the world has refused to embrace the peace Jesus came to establish. 

In Ephesians 2:13-17, Jesus took three steps towards giving us His peace:
First, He made Himself our peace. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.”Secondly, He came to make peace. “ Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”

Thirdly, He came and preached peace to the world.  “And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.”Jesus came to give a different kind of peace unknown to the world. His peace is unique and peculiar. As he said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27; 16:33).

Paul’s prayer in Phil.4:7 makes meaning in our broken world of today, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (NLT). May we embrace the peace that Jesus gives as we move into 2018. Contact:pastoracukachi@hotmail.com