I heard a pastor on the radio the other day giving a benediction. He was praying the Peace of Christ on the listener, then he said this......"..but may that peace be a vigorous peace...."
That stuck in my head. I've been chewing on it awhile.
I've always loved the description of God as the Prince of Peace. My life is usually pretty busy. Hectic even. So for me God being the Prince of Peace is a great metaphor that I can wrap my head around. A Prince of Peace is a God that I can run to when my world is crazy and I can rest in the comfort that only He can provide me.
Vigorous Peace. That conjures up some other images though. Peace is calm. It is relaxing. How can it be vigorous?
What the pastor was illuding to was this....as Christians we find that true peace can only come through Christ. But once we really understand and experience that peace, you become excited and want to make sure everyone around you has that same peace.
Let me put it to you this way.....if you knew that a car dealer was giving away free sports cars to anyone who walked onto the lot.....first of all, you'd probably run over there to get yours. But after you got yours, wouldn't you call someone? A friend? A relative? A neighbor? Heck some of us would probably go downtown and yell it in the streets. That what the pastor was talking about when he said vigorous peace.
It's like we find peace in Christ but we can't just sit there relaxing on our butts because we found the peace. We find peace in Christ and that peace is so amazing that someone else needs to know about it.
It's still hard for me to put those two words together.....but there you have it. Vigorous Peace.
