A Peaceful World

People know this world is a wreck
We're sick and tired of being politically correct
If I see through it now but I didn't at first
The hypocrites made it worse and worse
Lookin' down their noses at what people say
These are just words and words are okay
It's what you do and not what you say
If you're not part of the future then get out of the way!

The latest big news concerning what's been going on over in the Middle East & especially concerning ISIS is the very disturbing image of a human being helplessly burning to death inside a cage! Before this latest development, or iteration in the cruelty of ISIS, there were the be-headings to worry about! There is so much evil in this world, along with chaos & disorder, that peace seems almost out of reach, like an unreal hope in a very livid & chaotic reality!

As Christians, the Communion of the Body of Christ, we do live in A Peaceful World! Though, in actuality, we live in the midst of the world described in short above, because of the Peace of God & His Presence Within, we can live in the midst of this dangerous & chaotic, yet glorious world & have peace in our 'world', no matter what life throws at us! In very fact of the matter, we have been Invested with Glory for this very reason, to bring the Peace of God to this chaos & disorder, to show forth His Presence in this gloriously dangerous world!

Much of what has gone wrong in this glorious world of ours, as John Mellencamp ( above ) has noted & what many others have observed, has transpired because of the Failure of Christianity to let the Peace of God, 'which passes all understanding' to flow out through us to a suffering world, to show the Love of God which brings that Peace to the disorder & chaos that surrounds us on every side! The Love of God is the ONLY real answer to the problem of evil & when we fail, for whatever reason to show that Love to a needy world, then evil persists!

Certain passages of Scripture, such as Isaiah 11:6-9 give most Christians much hope for a better world, one where 'there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying' ( Revelation 21:3 ). This peaceful world that John wrote about, as did Isaiah & others before him, is not some utopian pipe-dream, it is not some 'pie-in-the-sky' affair that we will truly only experience upon our physical demise or when Jesus comes back, whichever comes first! If one reads the context of these words of hope, one will see that this is ( already ) a reality! The only way that we will see these promises fulfilled on this physical plane is when we, as the Body of Christ on Earth, the Temple of the Holy Spirit of God, allow the Love of God & the Peace that Passes Understanding to flow through us, for changing the face of this dangerous, chaotic & disorderly world!

Christians as a whole & most Christians individually, seem to be more enamored with getting all their doctrinal ducks in a row than showing the True Love of God to a desperately seeking world! Only if they hold the same truths as we do are we willing to share the Peace Within & God forbid we should live by the mantra 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'! The Failure of Christianity to truly represent both the Love & Peace of our Heavenly Father has engendered a world without God, a world where Hate, not Love, seems to reign supreme, a world that is so full of chaos & disorder that we often despair of seeing John's vision in real life!

There is however, Real Hope for our future! No, it is not the false hope of Jesus' Return ( He's already here! ), it is not in eradicating The Scourge of ISIS & the manifold evils, real & imagined, around the world! As John  ( Melllencamp ) said, 'if you're not part of the future then get out of the way'! It seems that Christianity & Christians individually have forgotten that they are the Light of the World! The Church seems to have abandoned a future on Earth for a future in Heaven!

 Only when Jesus returns, Christianity says, and burns up these elements will we see the visions of John & Isaiah fulfilled! We need to face the facts, though, as individual Christians, that it is through us, the Body of Christ, the True Son of God, that this visible change will come about! Jesus Himself promised, 'He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water' ( John 7:38 ); when we keep this 'living water' to ourselves & even within the four walls of a certain building, we cut off any hope for a peaceful world of which we have been made The Light!

As long as we abandon any future hope for this world save some cataclysmic event, we not only fail to be The Light of the World, we fail to allow the Peace of God & Love of God to reign Supreme in our lives! If in some future Heaven only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable! When Christians begin to let the River of Peace flow out through their hearts instead of bottling them up for some future Hope of Heaven & the pipe-dream of a Utopian Earth, then we may see that Peaceful World, not the one that John envisioned, for that is already within us, struggling joyfully & gloriously to get out!

Let the Waters Flow!

Charles Haddon Shank