The Quiet That Enables Christ's Peace

In John 14:27 we read that Jesus gives not as the world gives. 

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27a).

So what we look for from the world but do not get, we receive—if we are quiet enough to receive it—from Christ:

Affirmation.

Truth.

Unconditional guidance and wisdom.

Assurance that we are created and maintained in love.

Confidence that we can continue on in this life.

Clear expectations set by Christ and the readiness to go after those expectations because God has told us that we can meet them. 

Forgiveness always, rejection never. 

“Well done” from God when we have made it our ambition to answer to Him alone, and in sincerity and humility live out that ambition pledged to Him. 

The world cannot be trusted because people, including myself, cannot be trusted. 

People can be swayed, momentarily capsized, deluded, justified, implored, and reconciled to themselves and others through flattery and agendas. 

People are tantalized and enamored by ideologies that encumber and lead astray.

And it happens through distraction. 

Distraction is the barring of reflection.

For Christians, distraction is opposition to Christian maturity in Christ.

Distraction, such as:

Turning the TV on first thing every morning, and first thing when a person walks into their home at night.

Facebook.

Surfing the internet.

Constant podcasts.

Internal dialogue with ourself prodded on by a critical spirit or victimhood.

Filling every moment with doing.

All of it all of the time keeps us from the silence that would allow us to speak to God and Him to us.

“Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:38-42).

Martha was distracted. Mary was not.

I love the picture of Mary here because Mary was not praying. She was sitting, quietly and undistracted, intent on Jesus.

Some folks have empowered “prayer” to comprise their only interaction with God. 

Depending on what that prayer life is: formal, corporate, rote or sincerely confessional—we may be missing out on the talking to God and Him talking to us part.

Prayer is often one-sided: we talk and God listens.

The quiet I am talking about is the quiet that allows no distractions to come between us and God so that not only can we converse with Him, but He converses with us and we listen. 

I don’t call this prayer. 

Without quiet I would have missed so much about myself that needed God’s cleansing, and which required my first agreeing that I needed cleansing. 

It has taken years for me to notice and finally observe things about myself that I would never have known because I distracted myself away from the truth about myself through religiosity, volunteer work, career ambition, roles and responsibilities, and the noise of my inner voice of self-righteousness or self-condemnation.

Seeing myself as I really am in God’s estimation, along with the outcomes I myself have played a part in, could never have happened if I had not shut down the noise and distraction that kept me from seeing, acknowledging and agreeing with God about His revelations. 

It is in quiet where His call to work on ourself begins. 

It is in quiet where His cleansing happens.

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;

According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in inequity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,

And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness,

Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins

And blot out all my iniquities.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:1-10).

I’m not always ready to accept what God reveals to me in quiet times. 

Sometimes it takes many long hours with God to fully grasp what is actually going on—with myself—and with other people. 

But as God continues to play life back to me, I begin to see what He sees. That is why His revelation is the only revelation, because it is:

Truthful without fear. 

Truthful without blame. 

Truthful without exceptions. 

Truthful without doubt.

And truthful with freeing confirmation.

It is safe to sit with God in conversation. 

In His gentle revealing of the worst about me I also grasp His unequivocal and very warm care and compassion. And that is how I lam learning to incorporate that same care and compassion for others when His truth about them also comes to light. That is when I see people as they are, not as I have made them.

Quiet listening to God in Christ.

Only from there are personal, familial and societal dysfunctions reconciled and replaced with His peace.

Copyright Barb Harwood

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak…” James 1:19a

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist Him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:6-11

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” John 14:27a

The Fear of Forgiveness

One act can instill trepidation like no other: that of forgiving someone, or asking forgiveness for one’s self.

This is because, to admit the need to be forgiven, or to grant it, puts one in a terribly vulnerable position. 

It puts us in the total opposite of control and entrepreneurship over one’s self. It steals our independence and the entitlement to be self-righteous. It removes us from the habitually comfortable place of “being right” in which we secretly luxuriate.

To give or receive pardon forfeits the license we grant ourselves to hold and nurse a grudge; to sarcastically say ‘I’m sorry’ but not really mean it; and to justify the passive “getting back” at others. 

We see in the word “forgive” the word “give”: and that is exactly what we do when we ask for or impart forgiveness: we give ourselves release from guilt or sorrow over our words or actions when we say, “I’m sorry,” and we give someone else the same when we allow and accept their apology to us. 

When we cannot participate in the giving and receiving of forgiveness, I believe it means we are  weak—self-imposing a crutch of hurt and victimhood to get us through the day. To relinquish that crutch feels unsafe, unprotected—exposed. 

Even accepting forgiveness can be difficult: though we specifically ask for it—we may not believe it or think ourselves worthy of it when it comes. That is a form of narcissism that denies us and the other person the clearing of the slate for a new beginning.

In reality, what the rejection of any form of forgiveness signifies is immaturity.

Whenever I hear or observe someone reciting a very opinionated petty grievance about something that transpired years ago, I know I am witnessing an act of being unforgiving. Not only that, but the recounting often takes on a drama not commensurate with the “wrong.” 

What’s going on here is a lot more than an event that transpired 20 years ago. The sad reality is, the event never ended and is still going on. This is the trajectory of immaturity. 

Immaturity, though it flirts with growing up, never quite arrives. And so it continues to pollute and stink up the days and the years. 

Immaturity is why people never change. 

dictionary.com defines maturity as 

“ripeness; full development; perfected condition." 

In finance, it is “when a note or bill of exchange becomes due.”

So what maturity is, when we combine all definitions, is the ripe, full development of a person’s condition, having a due date.

This is where Christ comes in. 

Christ is the ticket, if you will, to our due date. He makes the exchange.

First, He is the Only One, in His Perfect Love, who is able to cast out fear from within us (1 John 4:18).

He is also the One who bears ripe fruit in us, who develops and perfects our condition, who brings us to our due-date—our maturity—through His power to transform (Romans 12:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 3:10; Galatians 5:22-24). 

We learn to forgive by receiving and experiencing His absolute forgiveness of us (John 3:16-17, 5:24; Romans 8:1-4; Ephesians 1:4-7, 2:8-9, 5:1-2). 

We grow in the knowledge of Him, and, as we do, increasingly desire to live as He is teaching us to live so that one aspect of His life—a major aspect of His person—forgiveness—can be imparted to and through us (2 Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 1:7). 

It is only through Christ that the “coming due” of maturity in us transpires (Romans 6:6; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:3, 4:11-14, 22-24; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 10:16). 

Forgiveness, therefore, being a major aspect of “growing up” and into Christ, is one of the most mature things we can ever ask for, receive and deliver. 

When brought to full fruition, Christ-forgiveness frees not only from specific, petty grievances, but from the heinous, the tragic, the shattering and the ingrained wrongs, prejudices, abuses and insults. 

Forgiveness removes the residual power of evil (Romans 12:21). 

Anyone who has wrestled with God and persevered in the strain to allow Him to purge what we harbor, knows what I’m talking about (2 Corinthians 5:1-21; Hebrews 4:15-16). 

Breaking through with God to the light of His honest-to-goodness and lasting forgiveness is to experience the wonder of all wonders—the joyful maturity that explodes forth into every other area of life going forward, living the truth of Christ’s unequivocal commitment to indeed “make all things new” (Psalm 27:14; John 3:5; Romans 6:3-4, 8:12-38; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20, 6:15; Ephesians 4:24, 5:8; Colossians 3:1-17; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 4:15-16; 1 Peter 1:3; 2 Peter 1:4; Revelation 21:5). 

copyright Barb Harwood

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:12-15

A Heart Hardened by a Sense of Independent Strength

C.S. Lewis asks, in Mere Christianity, 

“To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?”

The “stronger than yourself" to which Lewis refers is Christ.

Ahh, but that is the point: most people, if not all at some time, think themselves to be the strongest. And if they are not convinced they actually are yet strong, they are convinced that they ought to be, and therefore, can be. 

Even when engaging with doctors—schooled and trained through a decade or more—the average person can hold themselves in a position of superiority: second-guessing, outright disagreeing with, or grudgingly accepting the doctor’s diagnosis and prescription—all due to a lack of sincere and humble gratitude for their experience, perspective and willingness to help. 

Ditto for car mechanics, customer service reps, contractors, and government representatives.

However, and quite ironically, many folks have no problem whatsoever aggrandizing the experts who substantiate what they themselves have already concluded—patting themselves on the back that this expert only confirms what they have already surmised out of their own innate wisdom and intuition. The experts and their identities become blurred, imbuing their ego with strength.

This personal co-opting of strength from those deemed to be "legit" deludes one into believing it is wisdom home-grown from within. 

The common denominator in both the contrarian and adoring postures mentioned above quickly becomes apparent: pride in self and standing. 

We vehemently desire and strive to curate and maintain a position of personal strength, so that, if anything, other people must look to us, and we never have to look to anyone beyond an impersonal distant stranger whom we have ideologically adopted as our very own in order to sustain rule over ourselves and others—in attitude and motivation.

This is indeed a difficult nut to crack. A nut, I believe, only Jesus can crack. 

Why?

Because Jesus does none of that. 

“…who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7).

Jesus did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped! 

Humans try to gain this equality every day—spend their entire lives attaining to it—even if they reject the Biblical, or any other god, altogether. 

Because they still believe in a god—the god of self; their self. 

This is the person to be pitied, because first of all, they are not a god, and second of all, they are brick and mortaring themselves from Christ, thinking they are actually building themselves up. 

Christ indeed, out of love, continually reaches for them, gently or not so gently allowing the bricks to fall away so that this vulnerable sheep can be brought into His fold to finally and truly find the strength they so ambitiously strive after. 

We are familiar with Jesus’s tears for His sheep:

“When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:41-42).

In Matthew and Luke Jesus implores the people to let him gather them to Himself as a hen does her chicks, but they would not let Him. 

In Luke 19, “even you” is very telling: 

even you….fill in the blank. 

even you who think yourself so smart, and perhaps are knowledgable about many things…

even you who work hard…

even you who do charitable acts…

even you who think yourself a good person….

even you who depend on no-one and are of strong reputation….

even you who never cries….

even you who think you know better….

even you of common-sense….

even you who are always helping others...

even you...

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Those who attain to and believe only in their own ability to be strong do not acknowledge the necessity or privilege of conceding sincere reliance upon anyone stronger—that there is, in fact, one stronger with whom they can do this. And even if they submitted that there might be one stronger, they still assure themselves that they can do fine without that person.

Therefore, they remain ignorant of their lack and dire bearing. 

“…let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

He who “stands” remains lost in the delusion and idol of independent strength. 

copyright Barb Harwood

Check back for a future post on how we benefit from realizing our position of weakness…