Winning the peace
After a treaty has been signed and troops withdrawn, there is still a battle to be won in the hearts of the combatants. It is a battle to resolve differences and to win genuine peace.
In today's modern conflicts, it's doubtful if a war can be won in the conventional sense, but there is no doubt that peace can and must be victorious. Making sure that peace has the last word may demand compromises but never a surrender to immoral forces or dishonest positions.
Genuine peace is much more than the absence of warfare. It is bringing to Earth God's government. It is calling upon spiritual forces to overrule the merely material. This demands an understanding of God and His laws, and the commitment to live these laws in every area of life. To understand and obey these divine instructions, we need to understand their source, and that means learning more of the nature of God.
A most significant attribute of God in bringing peace to the world is oneness. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in her textbook of Christian Science: "God is one. The allness of Deity is His oneness" ("Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," p. 267). Recognizing that God alone is governing the man and woman He created reveals that there are no conflicting directions. We don't need to linger in a quandary over what to do, nor do we find our intentions in conflict with another's rightful activity.
This oneness is all; it is not limited but infinite. There is no favoritism. No matter what our religious background, we are all governed by the same laws of God. An early Bible writer glimpsed this equity and wrote, "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God" (Lev. 24:22).
This impartiality of the laws of the one God is the basis for universal peace. A so-called peace that admits inequities in order to keep everything quiet is not peace. It's a phase of warfare that may soon lead to an outbreak of open conflict.
World peace will be made situation by situation, day by day. Feeling the hope in one's heart that there will be war no more may inspire us to make peace today. Resolving personal differences is important to gaining a more hopeful view of our world. We have our role in ushering in the time when universal harmony is the norm. This is a great reward for making peace in your daily encounters, and a goal to be reached day by day. When peace is the goal, all are "fighting" on the same side.
Finding a spirit of reconciliation in your heart at the time of a misunderstanding opens the door to another's peace of mind. If there is no one to do battle with, there is no battle. While winning the struggle for peace, there are no losers. All receive the biblical blessing, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9).
Perhaps this promise is also saying that the children of God are peacemakers. Praying to God as "Our Father" affirms our role as peacemaker and participant in bringing harmony to a troubled world. Winning the peace is a victory for all.
