Shalom!
I'm sure you've heard this word before. It’s often used as a greeting or a goodbye. The word shalom literally means -
“completeness, wholeness, safety, tranquility, fullness, harmony”
Don’t you wish someone could greet you with “Shalom!” and you would magically feel complete, full, safe, whole? It doesn’t work that way, does it? I want it to, though. When my life falls apart, I look to my friends, family, a book or a podcast and I want them to “fix” whatever issues I have or to end the conflict in my life. How crazy; how fruitless.
If peace can be described as the end of conflict, how do we have peace in the middle of conflict? If I am filled with the spirit through trusting in Christ, and the fruit of the Spirit is peace, then why don’t I live perfectly at peace all the time? Why do I still struggle with fear and anxiety?
Because I forget WHOSE I am.
Paul describes it like looking in the mirror and walking away only to forget what you look like. That’s me - even if it's for a moment, a day, or a season. Forgetting that truth steals my peace.
When Duane and I were teenagers, we broke up at least once a month. It would devastate me. I felt lost, hopeless, depressed. In the weeks we would be apart I would wake up in the morning and the first thing I would feel was an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach – with a feeling that something was wrong in my world. I would live with that feeling until, inevitably, we would make up and all would be right again. Sadly though, for the first few mornings after we would get back together I would still wake up with that pit in my stomach… then I would remember that we were ok and peace would rush in. That is how I live with God. Something disrupts my life - my husband is told he may have cancer, owning our own business causes fear with finances, or after having been a stay-at-home mom for 26 years my kids move out and I feel lost - and my first feeling is anxiety, unrest. Peace is gone. The amount of time I live in those feelings is directly related to how long it takes me to REMEMBER whose I am.
In John 14:27 Jesus says “my peace I give to you, not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled or afraid.” I take that to mean that in this broken world there will be lots of things to be troubled or afraid about, but Jesus didn’t die to solve my external problems, but to solve my internal problem: being in conflict with God. That conflict is resolved, there can be peace. My response can change. The anxiety and fear can be crushed.
I have professed faith in Christ for 35 years. I wish I could say that remembering whose I am is on auto pilot by now. That the moment I face tough things I immediately have peace. Not true. I can say it comes quicker. Where anxiety used to last years, it may only last months; where I used to live in fear for weeks may only be days. Sometimes, supernaturally, it IS my first reaction. The fact that I have any peace at all is a reminder that His Spirit is living in me.
One of the roles of the Holy spirit is to convict us of our righteousness - our right standing with God. When we forget, the Spirit whispers “The conflict is over, you belong to God, you can trust him, He is good, He is in control, His way is better. Shalom.” That conviction calms, reassures, releases.
So going back to my teenage days... After Duane and I would make up, and I would still wake up with that uneasy feeling for a few days after, eventually it would go away. The stronger our relationship would get, the easier it would be to wake up at peace. In the back of my mind, though, I was always waiting for the next break up. Unlike my volatile teenage relationship that left me worried, God’s word tells me that he will never leave me. His word tells me that He is with me. His word tells me that I have power to “bear fruit,” or better said, to live a life that is contrary to my flesh. I am thankful that His Spirit continues to remind me of that truth.
So, I leave you the same way I greeted you….
Shalom!
Not some magic word to “right the wrongs” in your life - but as a reminder that in Christ, through the spirit, you are complete, whole, safe, full and in harmony with God. Peace be with you.