There have only been a few moments in my life when I have felt perfectly at peace. Moments of sweetness and beauty are so profound, they leave me feeling as though the veil between now and eternity is lifted for just a moment, long enough to breathe in before the exhale drops me back into the mundane.
We live in this in-between, in the “already but not yet” reality of Christ. We only receive a few precursors of perfect peace in our mortal bodies, when our desire for heaven is almost satisfied for a second. We crave heaven because it is what we were made for. We long for peace because our hearts are hard-wired for it.
In her novel Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson describes longing for peace like this:
To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing—the world will be made whole.
Today’s passages give me similar moments of peace and pause. Colossians 1 and 1 Corinthians 15 are both banner moments in Paul’s writings. I can hardly read them without the very best kind of tears filling my eyes. These passages provoke the deepest, unfulfilled places in my heart. They remind me that I was made for a perfect eternity.
Our eternal peace with God will be better than anything we can ever imagine. We will put on, as Paul writes so hopefully, our incorruptible bodies—new and perfect versions of ourselves (1Corinthians 15:53). We will also be fully reconciled with God.
Theologians categorize the work of Christ into different buckets, one of which is Christ as our reconciler. Sin alienates us from God and it makes us strangers to His mercy. There is an uncrossable chasm between us. But when we know Jesus and believe in Him, He makes our peace with God. He binds us up into a covenant relationship, into perfect peace.
Jesus doesn’t offer that peace to us as a pretty gift wrapped in a bow; rather, He spent His breath and bones to purchase it for us, “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20). And so because of His blood, we claim reconciliation as God’s people. We will be reunited with Him forever. Death is no longer an uncrossable chasm. Death has lost its sting, having been swallowed up in Christ’s victory on the cross (1Corinthians 15:54–55).
As those who have been raised with Christ, let us seek eternal things, not earthly things. One day He will appear again, and we will join Him in glory. But as we wait, let us rest in the peace of Christ today. Lord, hasten the day of your return.
I read these Scriptures with tears, too, as Melanie here writes in her devotional. I long for a world where Jesus is physically next to me. It gets so hard fighting a spiritual battle without seeing the physical Jesus. I know I have His Spirit— but I know my eyes were made to see My God (in the absence of sin), not just feel Him or know Him through His Word.
Thank you for the prayers.
My mom mentioned to me about having my own space… But not in the way I wanted to hear. She talked about me moving out. She told me the room was promised to my sister, so she will likely move into it. We have already had this conversation about me moving out…so it gave me a lot of frustration.
I have previously confided in her that I had begged God to move out when I first moved back, but He told me to stay. It was very clear. Multiple confirmations. He basically said when it’s time to move, I will have direction. Currently, my confirmations from Him still say “stay”— so I feel much peace being here. I don’t fight Him on it like I did.
My mom knows this. So I am praying she remembers the conversation and gives her desires to God, instead of trying to force an alternative will upon me.
I am also not financially able to move. If the Lord wants to move me, I trust He will provide in that time.
So, I am praying once my parents’ room is sorted (they are painting, doing new carpets, getting new furniture, etc) my sister will move her stuff into the room upstairs and I will have our room to myself. I also am going to get the door fixed because it doesn’t lock or shut all the way.
All this, God willing.
So that’s where I’m at. Thank you Rae-Ann, it helps me to know there is a mom out there who is seeking God about their 30 year old daughter, too haha!! & Thank you Rebecca & Kelly and anyone else who prayed. It means a bunch.
And I will agree, LORD hasten the day of your return.
HEIDI, As I read this morning, I was also reminded of 2 Corinthians10:5 and taking every thought captive!
Just prior to Covid, I was inspired to ask my neighbor to make me a sign that says, “Peace comes to those who seek it.” My plan was to have her make smaller signs to attach below it where I could change Scriptures from time to time. I didn’t get that part completed, but I still love the main quote. Eternally grateful to Jesus and God for paying the price of my peace.
Thank you Jesus!
Heidi – love your final sentence here. Thank you! My mother in law has just received some potentially concerning health news, so thank you for your comments in your post
Heidi – love your final sentence here. Thank you! My mother in law has just received so a
Gratitude. Contentment. Peace. When I focus on one, the others are more likely to hitch a ride.