A Peace to Come

I have been slowly reading through Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. In the sixteenth chapter Metaxas quotes Bonhoeffer as saying: 

There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.

Bonhoeffer was speaking to the German Ch at the time, demanding them to take their God-given power and be obedient to the Word by battling for Truth, in a time when war was upon them. He was speaking of a specific event but his statement applies to the life of the believer at all times.

I ponder this quote and begin to realize that many times I choose safety over peace. Do you? How often do we choose to be safe instead of walk the road of battle. It is so easy to say to self, if you just remain quiet you will have peace and then you’ll be safe. Bonhoeffer says that peace comes in the midst of the unsecured, in the midst of the battle. I believe it. So many times in the midst of the battle I feel as though I am army crawling through the roughest terrain an overwhelming peace washes over me. However, when I am sitting on my couch watching a sitcom and trying to forget the battle I chose not to fight in Truth, there is no peace.

“Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes.” Wow! On our way to holiness we try to give ourselves peace by being quiet, by allowing the ways of the world to pass by us without stepping in front of them and defying them for the sin they are. That’s not peace. Will we, the Ch, truly know peace until we allow ourselves to stop being safe and start fighting for the Cross? 

I for one believe that I will never have peace without the fight. I will never have peace if I do not take risks for the Father. I believe it was Hudson Taylor who said, “If there is no risk in your exploits for God then there is no need for faith.” The same is true for peace; without taking the risk the Ch may never truly know peace.