Philippians 4:4-9
By: April C. Caballero
The peace of God is a reality, which rests on all of creation, although mostly unknown to us. The peace of God is there always, awaiting us patiently, through all of our hardships and anxieties.
Sometimes we know this peace. We feel its presence surrounding us, and if we stay put long enough it even sinks into our being. This presence tends to grow stronger when we slow down, and especially when we retreat, which is indeed a spiritual discipline, tried and true.
But our text today reads to “keep on doing things…and the God of peace will be with you.” Peace is not a lofty experience that we attain to when we are simply removed and meditative. The peace of God is a reality intended to permeate our beings, flowing in and through us. It is to bring us to rejoicing and to constant prayer and thanksgiving as we walk in this journey through life, not simply when we walk away from it.
The trouble is that we are in fact doing our best to do “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable…” We are, in fact, doing our best to be gentle, as the Apostle Paul calls us to be. We do our best not to worry, and to offer our needs and requests before God. Heaven knows we are all truly doing our very best, at least most of the time. And yet the peace of God, which is said to surely follow, feels distant and lofty.
But the peace of God is exactly the opposite. It is actually more akin to dirt and bacteria festering beneath the surface, ready to break out at any moment, than it is to free-floating particles drifting into the sky. The peace of God is like the cell structures within our bodies, which are intricate and abundant, working together to do exactly what our bodies need, outside of our awareness. To realize the peace of God working in and around us, our awareness simply needs to be activated somehow.
I am reminded of a black light, which, when turned on, emits ultraviolet rays that allow our eyes to see things we would have never known were there.
“Ultraviolet radiation is invisible to the human eye, but illuminating certain materials with UV radiation causes the emission of visible light, causing these substances to glow with various colors. This is called fluorescence.” (Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklight)
Just as ultraviolet radiation allows us to see what exists, and even thrives, without our awareness, it is faith that allows us to see and know the peace of God in our lives. We look out at the world, and even within ourselves, through the lens of faith which allows us to see and know the peace of God. Without faith, we are blind and numb to the spiritual reality of peace.
And so then, we keep doing our best. But as we move through Lent, we ask the Spirit to also enlighten us. We ask the Spirit to grow our faith that we might know the peace of God; the peace of God which rested with Jesus and allowed him to carry on, even to the cross. And we carry our faith around like a black light on this journey, revealing to us peace and all good things everywhere.
God of peace, cause us to rejoice in you always, make us gentle to everyone, keep us from being anxious about anything— help us to ask you for what we need, with thanksgiving; and let your peace guard our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (Michael Perry, Bible Praying).