The Costly Price of Peace?

This morning I came across this quote by William Law (1686-1761), an English devotional writer.

There is no peace, nor ever can be, for the soul of man but in the purity and perfection of its first created nature; nor can it have its purity and perfection in any other way than in and by the Spirit of Love. For as Love is the God that created all things, so Love is the purity, the perfection, and blessing of all created things; and nothing can live in God but as it lives in love.

Now, you may have to read that a few times as I did to really comprehend what he was saying; but what I think he is saying is that there can be no peace without the Spirit of Love, who is Christ! And there is no greater demonstration of that love than His willingness to lay down His life for us on the Cross, to give us that peace.

In Philippians 2:6-8, Paul says:
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

As I read more of William Laws writing, I observed increased evidence of God’s incredible PEACE. The words below, particularly the ones in red reveal this attribute of God. Because He is Love, He is our Peace!

As certainly as He is the Creator, so certainly is He the Blesser of every created thing and can give nothing but Blessing, Goodness, Happiness from Himself, because He has in Himself nothing else to give. The Spirit of Love in the creature…must be a will to all goodness, and you have not the Spirit of Love till you have this will to all goodness at all times and on all occasions…The Spirit of Love is not in you till it is the Spirit of your life, till you live freely, willingly, and universally according to it. It knows no difference of time, place, or person; but whether it gives or forgives, bears or forbears, it is equally doing its own delightful work. For the Spirit of Love, wherever it is, is its own blessing and happiness, because it is the truth and reality of God in the soul…The wrath of an enemy, the treachery of a friend, only helps the Spirit of Love to be more triumphant, to live its own life and find its own blessing in a higher degree.

Christ’s humility, demonstrated by the sacrifice of His blood on the cross, purchased our PEACE; but in order to partake of that peace we must follow the example of Christ, who said in Luke 14:

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. verse 33

If anyone comes to me and does not hate… his own life — he cannot be my disciple. verse 26

This is the kind of humility Jesus requires in order to have the peace He promises. Jesus gives us an invitation to receive His peace:

"Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest [peace] for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:28-30

This type of ‘self-denial’ may seem difficult, but when we read William Law’s description of ‘self’’ we have to ask ourselves. “why do I want it?”

“Self is the whole evil of fallen nature…all the vices have their birth and power in the Pride of self, or I may better say, in the atheism and idolatry of self, for Self is both Atheist and Idolater. It is Atheist because it has rejected God, it is an Idolater because it is its own idol. On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility…there never was, nor never will be but one humility…and that is, the one humility of Christ.”

Andrew Murray also comments concerning this truth in his book, God’s Best Secret:

“It is not only one among other virtues, but is the first and chief need of the soul. It leads us to know our absolute and entire inability in ourselves to do any good.”

Once we acknowledge these truths and surrender our lives to Him we enter into His promised PEACE! It was costly for Jesus to give up His life in order to give us peace.
It may feel costly for us to give up our self-life to receive His peace—but is it really? Especially, when we honestly think about the definition of ‘self’. Now, doesn’t self-denial sound like taking off filthy rags? Doesn’t if feel like freedom?

Yes, we may feel exposed and vulnerable; even tempted to put the rags back on as a form of comfort and protection that has been familiar for our entire life. But, is that the type of covering we really want? Especially when Jesus is offering us His robe of righteousness!
Truly, our cost of self-denial is nothing compared to the price Jesus paid!

Either way----it is well worth the cost!