A Call for Peace

It's been well over a month since my last posting on this blog. For those of you who thought I dropped off the face of the earth I apologize. Life has a way of taking us on unknown paths. Lately mine has been on such an untrodden trail. I'd appreciate prayers for myself and my family as we deal with serious health issues of a loved one.

But on to today's posting. It comes from the end of the Old Testament, as my journey through the Bible comes to a close for 2007.

I noticed today a passage that is familiar to many who do not call themselves Christian.

Micah 4:3 "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

A lot of people and organizations have used this verse to call for peace and for a cessation of war. That is all well and good but I think it is instructive for us to look at why this will happen according to Micah's prophecy.

4:2 "...come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."

What are the ways of God? Jesus told us in John 6 that to work the works of God you must believe in he whom he sent.

My simple point is this: the way to peace is not to end hostilities between peoples. The way to peace is to end hostilities between us and God - hostilities caused by our own sin. Once we believe in Jesus then God takes away our sin and the barrier which separated us from him. He then comes into us and makes his "abode" in us.

In the process he begins to transform us into his image. It is then that we go from a people prone to violence and lust to a people who desire peace. Micah's prophecy won't come about until Jesus returns to the earth to establish his kingdom out in the open here.

Pray that before then you will find peace with God yourself!

Pastor Tom