World Peace is Coming

Call me an idealist, but it’s getting easier and easier for me to picture a world without war. I’m not sure if it’s the years spent with Jesus or the hours each month I spend envisioning heaven on earth, but something inside of me believes that I will live inside of a generation that no longer prepares for war. That doesn’t necessarily mean we live in a world entirely devoid of all military, as they have their uses when it comes to internal conflict or natural disasters. But at the very least a world where training for international conflict and destruction is simply no longer in the consciousness of a society.

I’m in love with Peace. Not just the idea of peace but the Person of Peace. Jesus is Peace. He is the peacemaker. And I believe it is in the heart of every Christ-follower to emulate what He is. We are called to peace, to make it and to keep it when at all possible. For many years I was of the mind that to make peace sometimes there has to be war first, or at the very least some sort of conflict to interrupt the initial chaos. And much of me still agrees with that logic. There may be a time for war when it is in-defense of victims suffering under oppression and violence, or to protect from foreign invasion.

Yet, apart from that narrow scope of necessity, I feel war is an obsolete idea. It is an unnecessary aspect of our society that in many ways seems barbaric and silly to me now. I believe the collective conscious of the world is elevating at such a rate that in my lifetime we will see legitimate world peace. Not world peace in the lofty, cliched sense, but a literal worldwide enlightenment that no longer sees war as a necessary means to an end. A world where arguments, dissensions and hostilities can be rectified through peaceful discussion and intelligent debate.

This isn’t just some naive idea I have concocted, there is actual prophetic scripture that speaks into this in Isaiah:

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” -Isaiah 2:2-4

We began living in the last days from the moment Christ ascended back to heaven and passed the torch to His friends, a.k.a Christians. And as I believe we are seeing, now more than ever, the world is coming together. You can see this if you choose to see through the lens of the Kingdom and its lens of hope. If you look at the present day world through the lens of fear, scarcity, or insecurity you will only see what is wrong, what hasn’t happened yet, who is still fighting, and every other problem. If you look at the world through the lens of hope you will see that the world is beginning to move toward peaceful resolutions.

People are believing again in a beautiful future, orphans are being adopted, disease eradicated, sex-trafficking is ending, homelessness is finding a solution, technology is working for us rather than against us, innovations, ingenuity and creativity are making a comeback, the treatment of animals is improving, people are working together to protect the planet, societies are demanding transparency and accountability in elections and political decision-making, a world-wide respect for different races, religions and beliefs is bubbling to the surface, women are treated with more equality than any time in the world’s history, the voice of the individual is being heard, and the list could go on and on.

Of course we are still a ways off from living in a world free of oppression and oppressors. We have much more to do and further to go, but the truth is we are getting there. We are becoming a world that no longer believes or accepts that “it’ll always be the way it’s always been”. I think the millennial generation believes more than any generation before it that the world really can become a place of peace; that things really can be different. I believe that we have a heart that believes deep down inside of every person there is the desire to be loved and known and to be decent, good and kind. That the nature of every person is not the desire to kill, steal, and destroy but to speak life, help one another and live in unity.

In many ways I feel that technology and globalization have helped spread this message of unity and brotherly love. Things like social media, internet based television and news programs, and the ease of world travel have helped share with the world the vulnerabilities of mankind and the commonalities of humanity. We all want the same things. We all need the same things. And we are all beginning to realize that we don’t have to be the big kid on the playground who pushes the smaller kid down just to take his toy. We can actually sit down with the other kid, get to know him, build a friendship and share one with another. We are collectively realizing that peace is power and that love really is all you need.

We don’t need the centralized media telling us lies or biasing our viewpoints. We are mature enough to see beyond these ignorant and out-dated means of communication. The collective voice of the world has begun to rise and declare that we actually like each other and don’t want to fight anymore! We are actually way more fascinated in getting to know one another and seeing what we could build together through a sense of unity and joy instead of remaining isolated and afraid. To me, it is the most exciting time to be alive! I wouldn’t have wanted to live in another era.

I know that in my lifetime I still may see some unfortunate and avoidable conflicts but I am not afraid because I see beyond that. I can see a future that is better than anything the world has ever known before. I see a coming world overwhelmed by brotherly love and human decency. A world where fear no longer dictates political policy or human behavior, but love, respect and honor raise a new banner. A place that is no longer “dog-eat-dog” but “man-helping-man”. A place of equality, beauty, and peace. And I believe a world like this is created because the love of God is permeating through His people and being sprinkled throughout every realm of influence in the world. We are truly being the salt of the earth and the light of the world! This is what it looks like when God’s children take their rightful place in the world as sons and daughters! The more we walk in our identity the more we will see this world RADICALLY TRANSFORM!

Now THAT is the Gospel…THAT is the Good News of Jesus…THAT is what Jesus died for! Get your hopes up! 🙂

It’s coming.

-Rachel

#staywoke