A glance at global headlines from the past several weeks makes one thing clear: The world is starving for peace.
Apparently, this is true even on the baseball field, where Guardians third baseman José Ramírez and White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson threw off their gloves, Aug. 5, for a game-stopping, bare-fisted fight at second base.
But global turbulence and brokenness has spread far beyond the ballfield, as made evident by a few recent reports from WORLD News Group:
• In a South Korean shopping mall, Aug. 3, a man stabbed nine people only a few minutes after hitting five people on a sidewalk with his car. Only a few weeks earlier, on July 21, 33-year-old Cho Sun stabbed four people in a subway station in Seoul, South Korea.
• On Aug. 2, “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps … launched an unannounced military drill on two Persian Gulf islands claimed by the United Arab Emirates.” No reason has been stated for the military drill, but the drill took place “as thousands of U.S. Marines and sailors were on their way to the Persian Gulf. They were deployed in response to Iran’s attempts to threaten commerce in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Pentagon report. About 20 percent of the world’s oil is shipped through the narrow channel.”
• In Pakistan, July 30, a “suspected suicide bombing … killed at least 54 people. … Nearly 200 others were injured.”
• Amid growing turbulence in Haiti, American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped, July 27, from the campus of El Roi Haiti, a ministry directed by her Haitian husband. The U.S. State department has ordered U.S. government families to evacuate the country. “Gangs in Haiti often kidnap people for ransom, and Americans are regular targets.”
Meanwhile, conflict and distress run deep – depriving men and women of spiritual and emotional peace. According to one health policy research report from earlier this year, nearly 50 percent of U.S. adults, ages 18-24, claimed to be experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Of course, though the details change, there is nothing absolutely new in these reports. The world has run short on peace ever since humanity’s fall into sin.
It’s no wonder, then, that Paul urges Christians to guard themselves against spiritual attack by girding their feet with the “readiness of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). Without this gospel of peace, we can’t stand firm in a turbulent and peace-deprived world.
Peace plays a prominent role in Paul’s letters. The apostle even begins each of his letters with words of “grace and peace.” According to one New Testament scholar, this greeting is a “shorthand way of epitomizing the essence of the gospel, with particular reference to its cause and its effect.” In other words, our salvation comes solely through the unmerited grace of God, and Christ’s gracious and sacrificial work on our behalf ultimately ends in peace.
According to the apostle Paul, the gospel guarantees peace with God for all who believe: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Though we were once God’s enemies, we have been reconciled to Him through the cross and are not only His servants and friends, but also His adopted children.
Also, since we are at peace with Him, we can rejoice even amid tribulation – because “all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28; see also Romans 5:2-4). “All things” includes the turmoil, tribulation and tragedy that Christians meet with throughout life.
For this reason, Paul tells us elsewhere to lay all our burdens and requests before God in grateful prayer. When we do this, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard (our) hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Shortly before he went to the cross, Jesus explicitly promised us His peace.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace,” Jesus said. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Christ’s promise guarantees that, no matter how turbulent our lives may be and no matter what hectic news may fill the headlines, we can always find peace in Him.