Good morning…
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace (Colossians 3:15, NIV). I ponder this Scripture verse at the end of Henri Nouwen’s morning message from yesterday. Now I am drawn back to our four word prayer.
Here.
Now.
Accept.
Allow.
In my mind, “allow” is synonymous with the word “let.” Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… Opening up Biblegateway.com to explore other translations, I learn an interesting fact. Colossians 3:15 doesn’t end there …we were called to peace. Next comes a three word sentence. And be thankful. When we accept and allow the here and the now, the peace of Christ rules in our hearts and gratitude naturally grows.
Here is how the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition expands this single verse. And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].
Christ acts as life’s umpire, continually. That’s an intriguing thought. An umpire calls balls and strikes. When something is out of bounds, the umpire sees, the umpire knows, the umpire acknowledges the unfair infraction. Our soul harmony is dependent upon our ability to allow Christ to rule, to see, to know, to acknowledge the unfair infractions we face each day.
If Christ continually acts as the umpire, we are not the keeper of balls and strikes, tallying up life’s “fair” and “unfair.” Umpiring is not our job. Umpiring is above our pay grade. For example, take the images coming out of Ukraine. Those infractions are so hideous, so out of loving bounds. Multiple air strikes, one after another, are so far out of the zone of “fair.” What is the umpire doing? How does God not yank the pitcher?
In passionate prayer, we might argue with the umpire. Appalled and confused, we might disagree on God’s call to let wild pitch after wild pitch fly by his face. Outraged, we might have a heated discussion, yelling at the top of our lungs, kicking up dust. Yet in the game of life, God remains God, the compassion umpire whose sights are set on both now and forever. Our only hope is to develop trust in an umpire whose ultimate judgements we simply cannot comprehend. If we are to live together in peace and gratitude, we must be rooted in deep trust, trust in the mysterious choices of the One who is in charge. He who calls you is utterly faithful and he will finish what he has set out to do (1 Thessalonians 5:24, PHILLIPS). God’s hard job is to umpire. Our hard job is to wrestle with God until we surrender in trust.
With the living Christ as the umpire of our lives, will we let the One who is utterly faithful finish what he has set out to do? As we try to trust the umpire continually, we struggle to say our daily prayer, “Here. Now. Accept. Allow.” As the sun rises in stark darkness, collectively we cling to any sliver of peace: “Living Lord, for you I am thankful.”
…Sue…
P.S. I just opened an email with the image below. Somehow it feels like an answer to our deepest prayer.
