Peace is a quality of life as is
rain in due season. Material prosperity is
part of that blessing. Peace is
even necessary for the material prosperity of a nation. War may be the ultimate distraction from
accomplishing anything positive; it is catastrophically debilitating to every
area of life. Not only can it break a
nation economically, but also warp its people psychologically and destroy its
social structure, infrastructure and spirit.
Should we think that peace is no
less necessary to spiritual prosperity? Is
it possible for us to grow when distracted by conflict and the anxieties and
troubles it produces? Even if the
conflict is not directly ours, it adversely affects our ability to live. More personal persecutions threaten our peace to
a potentially terrifying degree when it is aimed directly at us. Throughout history, peace-shattering disturbances
produced job losses, divided families, uprooted lives, imprisonment and other
unbalances.
Conflict promotes
self-centeredness, virtually forcing us to flee, defend ourselves or attack others
to maintain or establish a measure of control. It can also cause us to detour permanently
from what we were trying to accomplish.
Therefore, let this Holiday
Season (and always), exhort us that the giving of thanks be made by all persons,
especially all in authority, so we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all
godliness and reverence.
