Heralds of Peace

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
Jesus Himself was the Prince of Peace. He passed through a world of unrest, in the calm of heaven. He was ever in the bosom of His Father. No circumstances ever ruffled Him. Sorrow and rejection pressed upon Him; unbelief and hardness of heart met His gentle spirit, to chill, if it were possible, the love of His heart; still He went on. He sighed at man's unbelieving spirit, but lifted tip His eyes to heaven. The Samaritans would not have Him in His mission of love, because His face was as it were, to go to Jerusalem; i.e., His heart was bent upon a path which ended in the cross and shame. He bows in submission and passes onward to another village, rebuking James and John, for they knew not what spirit they were of. His yieldingness is known unto all. (Luke 9.)
At His end, when all His sorrow stood before His soul: even when He had surveyed its mighty depths and accepted the cup from His Father's hand, He passes through shame and scorn and spitting, in calmness and peace. No moving of His heart to haste; no reviling when reviled; no threatening when He suffered-His case was with His Father. In the midst of all-with girded loin, as Servant of servants, He thinks of Peter's fleshy blow which cut off Malchus' ear; He touched and healed it, repairing His poor impulsive Peter's rashness. He still has His eye on Peter. He thinks of him as one who specially needs His care. His eye is turned on him at the moment the cock crew to disclose to him the distance his heart had wandered from his Lord. Silent before His foe, He commits Himself to Him that judges righteously, when His judges were condemning (and they knew it) an innocent Man. He was as " A man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs."
0 how His loveliness judges our ways! What trifles move our hearts to haste! But still our calling is to be the heralds of peace, and of the Prince of Peace; to carry into a world of unrest a spirit of peace and restfulness, which is to be found only where self is broken and God is trusted.
This condition of soul results as the outflow of Christian character. The inward condition formed and braced by the word of God; the conscience perfect to face the foe. No thought for self is needed, and the heart is thus free to go on with God and think of others, and, with restfulness of spirit, shedding blessing upon those around.