“I wish for world peace.” The standard answer, or so it seems, of the contestants in the Miss America Beauty Pageant. What a noble, wonderful, most desired wish. Who wouldn’t want this world to be at peace? All nations ceased from war and conflict. Mankind finally working together despite differences, to accomplish the commo goal. Who doesn’t want this? I mean, really? I will tell you who: the devil, Mr. Satan himself. Diablo, that old serpent, who once was called Lucifer.
Man has fought wars, called “wars to end all wars” but they were never true to their name. Because you see, you can’t bring peace, which is the opposite of war, by fighting, killing, eliminating enemies and violence. Elimination of our enemies will not work, with man anyway. True peace will never be accomplished as long as hate rules our hearts.
In reality, I believe that all people really do desire peace. Their definition of peace in essence means that everyone agrees with them. Big clue here, with men this will never happen. We all have our opinions, our convictions, our beliefs. We all think we are right and “if only everyone would see it my way …” In a nut shell, peace was removed from this planet when man sinned in Eden. Yes, that’s right, we did it. We killed peace. We brought all these bad things upon mankind. We want to blame God. But He warned us (through Adam) that if we sinned, we would issue in death. Man didn’t believe Him and so he sinned and guess what? Just as God said, death entered the picture. And so, sickness, disease, mistreatment of children, killing, hatred, treacherous storms, weeds, wild animals, poison snakes and blood sucking mosquitos are all a part of life because we messed up. It isn’t acts of God but acts of man. We who want world peace so badly are the very ones who eliminated it from Earth.
But, never fear, God has a plan that has spanned the halls of eternity. It is working one day at a time. Each fleeting moment brings us closer to the climax of God’s Divine plan to restore peace, not only to man, but to all of creation. Paul wrote in Romans 8:19-23, “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan withing ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
World peace is coming. But it will not arrive until God has finally conquered the devil, and cast him into the burning Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10). That day will be here before we know it, and finally, once and for all, there will be world peace, but only under the leadership of God the Son – Jesus Christ, the Righteous who sacrificed Himself as the ultimate price paid for our sin. A price that will ultimately restore peace to our planet.
However, that peace begins in knowing Jesus Christ as Savior. Jesus had been talking with His disciples, ironically on His way to the Garden of Gethsemane where He would be taken, falsely tried, and executed unknowingly for the sins of all men (He knew but those who had Him crucified had no idea that they were really puppets in the hands of God arranging for the penalty to be paid for our sin, to ultimately bring back peace to this Earth). As they walked, He told His disciples many good things. He said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And that He did.
Just as Jesus said, we will have tribulation in this world. It hasn’t officially been redeemed yet. Until it is we will still experience sickness, pain, persecution and even death because of the curse. But inside, deep within our very beings, we can have peace now. Peace in knowing that despite tragedy, pain, suffering, persecution, sickness, body malfunctions, failure of friends and family, we have peace in our hearts because of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Yes, while the world rages in its tragic failure at peace, we can have peace. We can have calm in the terrible storms that wreak havoc, whether literally or those in our lives. Only in Christ will world peace ever come. But it comes one person at a time, culminating in the reign of our King of kings. Will this world ever have peace? Accept Jesus and see for yourself.
Jerry D. Ousley is the author of Soul Challenge, Soul Journey, Ordeal, The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel The Shoe Tree. Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.