WAR & PEACE

SUNNY THOMAS

Some trust in atom bombs to give them peace! Our neighbour in turmoil, Pakistan, and the military state of North Korea, whose people would die of starvation if food from their neighbor South Korea does not reach them in time, belong to this group. The exclusive nuclear club members, the US, the UK, France, and Russia, too, belong to this group. We will be unfair if we leave out China and India. We believe in Nuclear Peace, the peace of the deterrent. 

The Persian Gulf nations enjoyed a spell of long peace till the emergence of Saddam Hussein, because they trusted in their oil that energized the West. They had, so to speak, Oil Peace. Europe, torn by a century of wars, invented the magic of the market to give peace. Globalization is an extension of this market magic where nations are dependent on each other for their prosperity. So we have Market Peace.    

Henry Kissinger, the ex-Lone Ranger of American foreign policy, made a breakthrough in international diplomacy by dividing the world into two halves – the American hemisphere and the Soviet hemisphere – where each ruled separately, maintaining the balance of power. So we have one more brand, Diplomatic Peace.   

Some countries escape belligerency by focusing on sports. The Olympic Games are coming, and it’s no time for war. So Olympic Peace is now in vogue.  Some nations, like men and women, trust in culinary (eating) delights; some in fashion and lifestyle; others in sensual pleasures. So Epicurean Peace of eating, drinking and making merry is what they seek. 

How fragile are these brands of peace. Only the Prince of Peace can give you real peace; others are illusions of peace, fakes and deceptions in the Satan’s bazaar. ``My peace I give you. It’s not like what the world gives. Peace is the presence of God in your heart: rather the fruit of His Spirit in you. Knowing God and living in Him is the necessary condition for peace. 

The world has not known Him, and hence the world never had peace in the true sense. How beautifully the Sermon on the Mount describes peace in the Inner Space! Pride and peace can never tango; nor can greed and peace; nor lust and peace. Pride, greed and lust are the enemies of peace; in fact, pride is the mother of all sins.

No wonder Our Lord began the Sermon on the Mount with a blessing, blessing the humble.  Only those who know Jesus can be truly humble, even as he was while he tabernacled on earth. Thus goes a quotation: I pray because what I do in a lifetime, God can do in a matter of moments.   

God can turn my wisdom into folly by turning the tide of tomorrow against me; and He can turn my folly into wisdom by turning the tide of tomorrow. Those who invest on the stock market will appreciate this concept better. Wisdom is more about tomorrow and your ability to understand the future. When the disciples were wonderstruck at the marvel of the building of the temple, Jesus saw its ruin stone upon stone!  

Sanctification is the second step that Jesus recommends in the spiritual journey of Inner Space. Sanctification is an ever-growing process towards perfection, and so Jesus pronounces His blessings on they that mourn (repent) for inner purification. The basic difference between a saint and a Pharisee is that the Pharisee is interested in gloating over the blemishes of others while the saint is engrossed in finding his own blemishes and rooting them out.   

The meek are the Christ-like, with the power of the lion but gentle as the lamb, like a dam that stores enormous hydel power.  It is picture perfect of self-control. Blessed are those who seek God with their whole heart; for sure they will find Him. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who seek God (righteousness is an attribute of God).  

Those who seek God will be merciful like God, and God’s mercy will surround them. You will find no duplicity in the heart of the pure, for they are the holy and blessed ones of God.  Some people carry their hell wherever they go and hell breaks out wherever they are, in families, in churches, in offices, in society. They are the antithesis of peacemakers who are God’s blessed children.  

Slander, hatred, malicious gossip, lying against are often the earthly rewards of those who live a righteous life. But thy are the salt that fights moral decay, often in families and in churches, and doubly hated because of it. Self-effacing, they do not get the recognition they deserve but wear out and become oblivion. But families are preserved because of them, churches are preserved because of them, and society itself is preserved because of them.

Think of your own mom and dad who burn out for you, your own grandparents, uncles aunts, who share the burden of your upbringing. In every family, you will find the salt of the earth, melting and disappearing without hope of any reward. (But God never fails to reward such in His time).  

Jesus said, You are the light of the world, a City set on a hill. When you radiate His light, you will shine and shine, like a beacon. Home is the best seminary and school to learn God’s righteousness and peace. Let the first issue of this blessed magazine, I pray, be an inspiration to practise the Sermon on the Mount at home!          

(visit: info@theshlomo.com)