Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Procedural Peace in Romans 16: 19-20

Seeing clearly what is right:
How many times, if you are wearing glasses, do you clean your lenses? We do it because we want everything to be clear. Not foggy or smudged. We do it also sometimes, because we dont want others to have a bad opinion by looking at our carelessly smudged glasses. Seeing clearly, is clearly important. But seeing clearly what is right is more important. In the opening lines of Macbeth, Shakespeare hammers the crux of how a good man could become so utterly rotten by saying, "Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through fog and filthy air." In the invasive filthy atmosphere fair becomes foul and foul becomes fair. There is a transposition of values. Clarity in sight is important, but clarity in values is even more important. In Matthew 6: 22-23 the excoriation of Christ is a mind-bending warning -- "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" So are you living in darkness? Or are you living in light? Can you see, clearly?

Staying innocent of all wrong:
This means that once we know what is right, we stay true to our conscience. This refers to the constant struggle in which belief and actions either match, or collide, or dichotomize. This is the area of will. It is the aspect of decisions. Decisions upon which consequences follow. Whenever you are innocent of all wrong -- you can be sure that peace will hold your heart. Its natural. But it is also divine.

Finding the favor of God's peace:
The flow of the text snowballs into a consequence: "The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." What an incredible assurance that the most powerful foe in the whole universe will be placed under our feet. All the enemy's strategies will soon be made into nothing. How much the forces of darkness circumvent and hinder God's will as we pray in desperation... but here is procedural peace for God's favor and enemy devastation. But how much have we clung on to claim our inheritance procedurally? Well, everyone wants victory and here is a mechanism. So, try it out.

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