There Is No Peace In This World
Peace can only exist when all parties involved are in agreement.
And that means if people want true peace, they can only find it from the true source of peace.

No Jesus,
No Peace.
Know Jesus,
Know Peace.

We have seen the bumper stickers and the posters.
This statement is a truism that will exist until the end.

Introduction
Ever since I was a young child, I have heard the cry for world peace.
We hear jokes about it when we watch the interviews during beauty pageants.
Yet, as this world continues, we see less and less of peace on a broad scale.
We see wars and some of these have been going on for thousands of years.
We hear of genocide taking place in many parts of the world.
We see hatred and racism.
We see those who do not care about other people and often take advantage of them.
We have class warfare and the bickering and accusing's are endless.
We have sweet people and we have grumpy people, and the two do not mix well.

There is a reason why we do not have peace, and why there will never be peace in our world.
People are not listening to God who commands that we be at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men”.
Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the LORD.”
Agreeing to disagree is not peaceful at all, but kind of pointless.
That is the problem many people have come across by such reasoning, that if you do not condemn my actions then I will not condemn your actions.
With such a standard, or lack thereof, we find that there can be no standard of right or wrong by which to measure ourselves.
There is no accountability of anyone.
No one is held responsible.
The only people held accountable are the ones that people do not like.

We have no right to tell someone that they are wrong.
That is definitely NOT politically correct.
It does not matter if we do not like what they do, they demand we not judge them.
You know; like Jesus said in Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, lest you be judged.”
People of the world love to quote this passage of scripture.
But in so doing, they are doing exactly what they say we should not do.
They are judging you while accusing you of doing such.

We have to learn that peace can only occur when people have a common goal or interest.
Every relationship exists because of an agreement between two parties to hold to a common standard.
This standard may be as simple as a verbal agreement, or it may require legal documentation by which to hold each other accountable.
Whether it be a marriage covenant, business dealings, neighborhood standards of behavior, or a military code of conduct.
Only when everyone follows the standard, can there be peace in that community or relationship.
The problem in our world today is that people expect that the other party in their relationship needs to be held accountable to the standard agreed upon, but more and more we hear them say: “But, do not hold me accountable".
In politics, one party may consider an action a righteous thing to do, but when the other party does the exact same thing, they cry foul and condemn such actions.
And of course, the media puts a spin on the story to promote their own agendas.

Do you see where this is heading?
Of course, you are waiting for the word "hypocrisy".
And you would be right.
That is exactly what Jesus was condemning in Matthew 23.
The Pharisees were the hypocrites forcing the people to do what they were not willing to do.
This peace will not happen on such a broad scale with so many people involved.
But when we bring the scale down to smaller groups and relationships, we have a better chance at having peace.

An example I experienced when I had open-heart surgery in the hospital really impressed me, and quite frankly, got me to thinking.
As I talked with my many care-givers I realized that they came from different backgrounds and cultures.
Some of which are in violent conflict today somewhere in the world.
Yet despite their differences, they were focused upon a common goal.
That goal was the health and care of their patients.
You see that when people are working toward a common goal, they find a way to get along.
A family relationship can only have peace if everyone in that family works towards a common goal or standard.
As a result, there is something worth holding onto and striving to keep in such a relationship.
Yet when one chooses to seek a different path, there is going to be friction as would happen in any relationship.
If one member of the family decides to be selfish and do their own thing, there will be friction.
And friction can lead to heartaches.

For any relationship to be at peace, there has to be an agreement, or a common understanding in place.
And it needs to be enforced.
When citizens do not follow certain guidelines, there is going to be friction for someone.
Those who want to break the law should find that there are consequences for their actions.
The current effort to ignore law-breakers is going to encourage further law-breaking, and the end result will be tragic for so many people.
We will not have peace in our nation unless we can come together with a common goal.
Oh they say, “give peace a chance”.
About the only way for that to happen is for everyone to be high on weed to the point that they do not care about what the others are doing.
We already have civil unrest running rampant and half the people in our country condemn it and half the people champion such.
So, there will not be peace in our current condition.
One thing that we could hope to happen is that the aliens attack our planet and we all join forces for our survival. But that only happens in the movies.

Truly, a major catastrophe is needed for people to come together for a common goal.
Occasionally we see it where storms have caused hardship for many.
We have seen people come together during tragedy, and wonder why they cannot come together all the time.
You might be thinking that all is lost and we can never have peace.
Well, it is not going to happen in the world at large, but it can happen in our various environments.
God commanded us to be at peace with our brethren.
If we do our part to pursue peace, God will make sure that we find such peace.

Conclusion
The only real solution to solve our problem is for the people to turn to God and abide by His rules.
Sounds good, right?
Even Jesus said that there would be few who will walk that straight and narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14).
So peace on a large scale is unlikely.
Let us follow the commands of the Bible and strive to be peace-makers and not trouble-makers.

By Carey Scott

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