Peace week3

 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:15

The glorious thing about peace is that it constitutes the soul of our relationship with Christ. We relate to Christ, we converse with Christ, we experience and grow in Christ only when his peace is the very atmosphere that shelters our ongoing relationship with him. The word rule in Colossians 3:15 means to "umpire" or "arbitrate" the struggles and disquietudes of our

lives.

One prominent twentieth-century philosopher rejected traditional Christianity because he concluded that its fierce doctrinal nature inspired quarrels over truth that divided the Christian world into angry, isolated denominations. He claimed that Christian doctrine had spawned bloodshed, ethnic cleansing, wars and crusades. One can argue that much of the history of the church has been that of quarreling Christians, championing viewpoints rather than celebrating their great commonalties in peace. But Paul suggests that each Christian needs to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in his or her own soul. When the peace of Christ rules the inner life Of the individual, it is freed to begin its purifying work in the church universal.

Disputes over doctrines have often brought about the fiercest of clashes within Christianity.

And why? If Christ rules from the throne of our hearts, surely we can trust each other to love all that he loves. Let us allow Christ the rule of our hearts so that unity within the church may bring others to know about him and be changed by that peace and love.