Do you want peace? Of course you want it. All
of us want peace. There is no doubt about it. Achieving peace appears to be a gargantuan
task, but achievable. There is peace to those with whom He is pleased.
Look at the Bible. Luke 6:27 says, “But to
those who are listening I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hates
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” To put it in
a nutshell, are you able to close your eyes to your brother's faults and be
happy with their goodness. See, everybody has some virtues in them. Of course,
it is practically impossible to forgive those who ill treat you.
Look at the Bible again. Romans 12-1 says, "offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is
your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the patters of the world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This is worship
in spirit and truth. When you are submitting fully to God, the spirit of God is
acting in you. Then whatever you do will be pleasing to God and you will have
peace. What I mean to say is that, those who are worshiping in spirit and
truth will have peace.
I will narrate one of my personal experiences.
Once a very
close friend of mine physically assaulted me in a fit of rage. Later, out of
his guilt feeling, he couldn’t face me and didn’t invite me even for his
daughter’s wedding. But at the time of my daughter’s marriage, out of God’s
grace, I had an urge to reconcile with him as revealed to me in Mathew 5:23-24: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at
the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against
you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and
be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
So I
went to his house to invite him for the marriage. Although my own people tried to prevent me, saying that I would get more insults from him, surprisingly he
came running, received me at the gate and embraced me. This was one of the
happiest moments in my life. My mind got completely filled with peace.
It was not me who acted but Christ Himself was
acting in me.
If you can pray in spirit and truth you will have peace. You will
be able to close your eyes to your brother's faults and instead, appreciate his
virtues. When you forgive your brother's faults, you and your brother are
receiving salvation. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty,
give him something to drink. In doing
this, you will heap burning coals on his head,” says Romans 12:22.
His hatred
will turn out to be a blessing for him as well as you. Christ teaches, "love
your neighbor as you love yourself." Thus, through this step, his hatred, guilt
feeling and fear of punishment will disappear and your mind will be filled with
peace and joy.
Dear friends, let this be my Christmas
message for you this time. Wish you a very merry Christmas.
(The
writer is Director and Senior Consultant in Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Thodupuzha.)
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