Stewards of the Reign of Peace
As you read these first few words of this blog, something is ruling in your heart. Right now, something has a hold of you and its reign is dominating your thoughts, your emotions, and your attitude. What has dominion in your heart at this moment? How about when you woke up, in those quite early morning hours as the day begins? What floods your mind, occupies your heart, stirs your emotions?
There is a relentless battle being waged for the lordship of our hearts. The spirits of Christian leaders are a strategic target for the enemy who is driven to instill fear and induce failure. Can you name the weapons being targeted at you in this conflict? Here’s a short list of mine; preserving identity, trying to control time, seeking security in money, self-reliance, discouragement, reliving past failures… and the list goes on.
We are (or should be) living in the warm afterglow of Easter. We felt God’s love and grace poured out as we sang ‘Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Hallelujah’. Easter is the explosion of peace in a broken and brokenhearted world. But that was over a week ago. In the 1965 movie, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Nicodemus comes to the empty tomb on Easter morning. After looking in he proclaims, “Now it all begins.” The question for us is, does it? For you. Every day?
Paul exhorts the church in Colossae, “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
Rule. Have dominion. Lord over. Dominate every other thought, feeling and attitude. That is God’s intention for you.
Jesus ups the ante, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
There is a theme in scripture in its use of the term theme, ‘Therefore…’ It marks the transition from an indicative – a teaching, truth, or promise – to an imperative outlining how we are then to live. It is a fitting reminder that everything we do in response to the indicative is wholly dependent on whether we truly believe it. Too often as leaders we feel the weight of all the work that is indicated by ‘therefore’ and we take it on without the transforming power promised us in the words before it.
Left to ourselves, everything else but peace will rule in our hearts. If the peace of Christ does not rule in your heart, every ‘therefore’ will be a burden whose weight will ultimately wear you down. The enemy wants to pile on you a relentless list of ‘therefores’. This week is your chance to claim all that is promised you in scripture that will make the work that follows a work of genuine worship and joy.
This means we need to be stewards of the reign of peace in our hearts. God’s reign of peace is not something we earn, produce, or conjure up in our own power. It is wholly a gift from God. All we can do is accept it with thanksgiving and steward it faithfully. This stewardship comes through our acts of surrender, obedience, and trust in God. It comes from a simple faith in all that God has done and will do in us and through us if we will be yielded in his hands.
Our world desperately needs leaders who are stewarding the reign of peace in their hearts. Leaders who live out the Proverb, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
May you be a faithful steward of God’s reign in your heart and live and lead as an outflow of that peace.
