Sumter Pastor Clay Smith: Peace...

Some people are not interested in peace. As I watched the drama unfold in Washington about the election of the speaker of the House, I realized some of the people involved were not open to compromise or finding a middle ground. They saw themselves as disruptors, eager to derail the election of Kevin McCarthy as the next speaker of the House.

The whole scene was familiar to me. I am a Baptist pastor, and in Baptist life, the congregation votes on many decisions of the church. In one church I pastored, we would present a proposal, and a certain individual would be opposed, mostly for the sake of being oppositional. Since the church had an unhealthy tradition of requiring unanimous votes, nothing ever changed in that church.

I have done enough marriage counseling to recognize the disruptor pattern. Either the husband or the wife controls the marriage by demanding his or her partner give in to the partner's desires. If not, the threat is thrown down that divorce will ensue. Sometimes these marriages survive for a long time, but there is not much intimacy.

You will find disruptors at work, too. They excel at pointing out flaws but seldom offer solutions. Wherever you find disruptors, you can be sure their goal is not health and progress but control.

This may be hard to hear, but I am not sure a true Jesus follower can be a disruptor. This is not to say Christians must agree on all matters. I also believe Christians do need to stand on the truth and advocate for it. We need to lovingly challenge one another about our walk with Christ. As the Proverb says, "Iron sharpens iron."

There are others, however, who disrupt to gain control, who destroy relationships to show how important they are, who refuse to find a way to get along. Are these folks really following Jesus? The apostle Paul told us, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Of course, Paul understood there would be times peace does not depend on you. Others choose war, and you must respond. But the principle holds: If I am a true follower of Jesus, I need to find a way to live in peace with everyone.

On the night before Jesus was crucified, he told his disciples, "Peace I give to you; my peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid." The peace Jesus was referring to is Shalom peace, a deep sense of well-being. The absence of conflict is not peace. It can be a temporary lull in the war.

Is it possible to live with a deep peace? I believe it is. I wish I lived this way every day. On the days I let the deep peace of Jesus rule my life, I know that no matter how I fail, what thoughts and emotions I have, how my body is feeling or how my relationships are going, I know I am profoundly and deeply loved by my Heavenly Father. I am not doing my journey alone. I know the peace of my soul is not determined by outside forces but by the inner calm of the Spirit. Every day I live this way is a good day.

I wish and pray that people had this peace. I think how different the world would be. Putin would stop the war in Ukraine. Kim would stop launching missiles at Japan. Congressmen would stop posturing for the cameras and try to work together. Church business meetings would be respectful, and the church would make progress. Marriages would have more intimacy. The world really could be different if the peace of Jesus inhabited more hearts.

Why don't more people hunger for the peace of Jesus? Maybe Christians, like myself, have failed them. If we do not show the peace of Christ in our lives, people will wonder if it is real.

I never met Dallas Willard, but people who knew him described him as the most peaceful soul they ever knew. Dallas was a philosophy professor at the University of Southern California (the other USC). He was also a devoted follower of Jesus.

Dallas would speak and not worry if he connected - he left the results in God's hands. If he missed a flight, he would ponder why God gave him the opportunity to wait. When a student challenged him in class with sophomoric logic, Dallas would pause and then dismiss class, later telling his teacher's assistant, "I am trying to practice the discipline of not having the last word." Someone said of Dallas, "I'd like to live in his time zone." Dallas lived with the peace of Jesus.

Pause. Think about the peace Jesus offers you. Embrace it. Your days, your years and your eternity will be better.

The Rev. Dr. Clay Smith is the lead pastor of Alice Drive Baptist Church in Sumter. Email him at claysmith@adbc.org.