War And Peace In Times Of Conflict

Now war is about economic power, or taking someone's land, or getting access to resources like oil, water, or trade routes. But one way or another, most wars are started in hate. Whether it's inter-religious hate or hatred between nations, war is almost always begun in hate.
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And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"

When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him. Luke 22:47-51

There's a lot of war in the Bible. Early in the Bible's account of history, war was about conquest, because various tribes were trying to establish their boundaries. Now the boundaries are pretty much set. In most cases, everybody knows which country is which. We even have empires. And yet we still have war!

Now war is about economic power, or taking someone's land, or getting access to resources like oil, water, or trade routes. But one way or another, most wars are started in hate. Whether it's inter-religious hate or hatred between nations, war is almost always begun in hate.

When Jesus said, "Preserve the peace," I don't think He was making an anti-war statement. I believe there are wars that have to be fought, and there will be war in the end times. This is part of what the Bible says is going to happen: wars and rumors of wars. So it is not my goal to picket against wars.

My goal is to love. A big part of the Christian's duty is to preserve the peace. And for me, love is the only way to preserve peace. If you love people, there will be peace.

As you have read many times in this blog, one way we can love our neighbors as ourselves is by helping those who are in need. That is the love the Jesus, so that is the love that preserves peace.

What about judging people? No. You're not preserving peace by judging people. I don't think that you've ever judged someone and then they've said to you, "You know what? Thanks for judging me. I feel a lot more peaceful now that you've judged me and condemned me." You don't see that happen!

We should conduct our affairs by replacing judgment with love. But I understand that in our flesh, it's really hard to do that. When we see something wrong, we want to handle it ourselves. God says, "Judge not," and we want to answer, "Yeah, I know, but this isn't right, and that person needs to know it! So I need to tell them!" We are always going to struggle with this as ambassadors of Christ.

Jesus didn't have that struggle. He never struggled with it. Jesus would say something to somebody, and it was over. He wasn't ever physically required to make things right. He showed us another way. When Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, who was trying to grab Jesus, He said to Peter, "Put your sword away. What are you doing? We're preserving peace here. I'm going to die for mankind, so that they have a hope. You don't cut a guy's ear off! You don't understand what you're doing."

And then Jesus preserved peace. He restored the servant's ear. He put it back on his head!

Self-restraint like this is just so hard for us. I would cut the guy's ear off in a cold minute, and I just wouldn't care! I understand Peter completely! "You're attacking my God, so I'm going to cut your ear off. You're lucky I don't kill you." In that time and place, no one would have told Peter he was wrong. No one would have spoken against Peter for defending Jesus.

But Jesus showed us another way. He preserved peace.

Compared to God, we are really limited in what we can do. I believe we truly want to do what's right. We want to make things right. And in our desire to do that, sometimes we lose control.

The thing is, when we lose control, we want to attack, just to get that feeling of control back. This happens to everybody. It's natural! But it's not preserving peace.

Remember, in times of conflict, Jesus always give you a way out. Always. You just have to look for it.

Jeremy Affeldt, pitcher for the three-time baseball world champion San Francisco Giants, and Major League pitcher for 14 years, recently retired from baseball. His streak of 22 consecutive scoreless appearances in the post season trails Mariano Rivera's mark by only one. He is an all-time leader in post season ERA, with a minimum of 30 innings with an 0.86.

He is a humanitarian, in-demand public speaker, philanthropist, author, and co-founder of Generation Alive. He is also a pre and post game analyst for CSN Bay Area. Jeremy works to end human trafficking, feed the hungry and end poverty. Follow Jeremy on Instagram and Twitter @JeremyAffeldt.

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