A Soul Checkup – Peace

The fruit of the Spirit is…peace… Galatians 5:22

Two longtime friends have a disagreement over a business venture. Now they hardly speak to each other and try to avoid contact as much as possible.

Neighbors go to court over a dispute concerning the proper placement of a fence. Both claim the fence is on their property.

After the death of their last parent, siblings get into a bitter fight over the will and what they believe mom and dad really meant when they drew up the document.

A husband and wife have an intense argument that is left unresolved. The next day both pretend nothing happened although everyone in the house can feel the tension.

A church gets into a disagreement over the performance of a staff member. Those for and against the minister divide into camps. Emotions erupt during business meetings. Some vow to leave and never come back.

On it goes. Harsh words. Misunderstandings. Resentments. And broken relationships. We’ve all been touched by them in one way or another. And we’ve all wondered why people just can’t seem to get along with others.

All of this stands in stark contrast to the words of Paul to the Galatians when he indicated that part of the fruit of the Spirit is peace. What did he mean by that? Is it even possible? If it is, then how do we experience more of it in our lives?

Let’s begin by defining terms. The word peace in the New Testament denotes an untroubled, undisturbed sense of well-being. It reflects the Old Testament idea of shalom which is more than a mere absence of conflict. True shalom or peace allows for full human flourishing. It brings God’s best upon all of God’s creation. It is what we see in Eden before the fall. Peace.

Paul tells us that this peace is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. This tell us that as followers of Jesus, we have within us the ability to live in peace. So why is it that there seems to be so little peace among us? And what can we do to experience more peace in our daily lives?

The reason why we struggle living in peace is directly connected to the presence of the deeds of the flesh within us which are at war with our new nature in Christ. (Galatians 5:17) Paul tells us that the deeds of the flesh include such things as “strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions” and more. These things are in direct opposition to inner peace. And just because we may have peace with God does not mean that we automatically have peace with others. For that to happen, two things must take place. We must learn to crucify the flesh and walk in the Spirit.

As to crucifying the flesh, something must be done to deal with the presence of the deeds of the flesh within us. That something is described as an execution in Galatians 5:24 where Paul writes, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The verb tense for crucify denotes a decisive choice that was made when we first came to faith in Christ.

John Stott put this way in his commentary on Galatians:

When we came to Jesus Christ, we repented. We ‘crucified’ everything we knew to be wrong. We took our old self-centered nature, with all its sinful passions and desires, and nailed it to the cross. And this repentance of ours was decisive, as decisive as a crucifixion.

Stott continues as he clarifies the nature of the kind of repentance that effectively deals with our old sin nature:

The first great secret of holiness lies in the degree and the decisiveness of our repentance. If besetting sins persistently plague us, it is either because we have never truly repented, or because, having repented, we have not maintained our repentance. It is as if, having nailed our old nature to the cross, we keep wistfully returning to the scene of its execution. We begin to fondle it, to caress it, to long for its release, even to try to take it down again from the cross. We need to learn to leave it there. When some jealous, or proud, or malicious, or impure thought invades our mind we must kick it out at once. It is fatal to begin to examine it and consider whether we are going to give in to it or not. We have declared war on it; we are not going to resume negotiations. We have settled the issue for good; we are not going to re-open it. We have crucified the flesh; we are never going to draw the nails.

So in order to experience more peace, we must first crucify the flesh. Then we need to learn how to walk in the Spirit. As we are led by the Spirit, the Spirit guides us in the ways of God. Our responsibility is to choose to follow that guidance. The verb tense for walk tells us that this is an ongoing action that we choose over and over again. Furthermore, the word for “walk” in verse 25 means to walk in line with something, namely the Holy Spirit.

Here’s how it works. The Holy Spirit creates new and godly desires in us. As we act on those desires by lining up with them, we find those desires increasing. Bit by bit we learn how to walk in the Spirit. When we trip and fall due to the influence of the deeds of the flesh, we confess it, pick ourselves up and renew our walk in the Spirit.

Over time, our walk will be more natural, and our victory over the deeds of the flesh will be more consistent. Our ability to enjoy the peace we have with God will grow, and our ability to live in peaceful ways with others will grow as well. What a blessing.

So it is possible to live in peace. To experience it, we must choose it whether others do or not.