Two Ways to Peace

To all the seasons in life there is a purpose in enduring. That purpose is achieved in one of two things and, when correctly deployed, it brings peace. The first is wisdom; the second, to overcome.

The Way of Wisdom

The way of wisdom is first because it assumes a status quo—not everybody is found challenged, or suffering, at all times. Suffering comes to most regularly enough, and to a few more than their fair share. All taste it. Yet, suffering, in the main, barring the desperately poor, is not the consistent scourge for most people.

Pictured for us, via the wisdom of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and New Testament James, wisdom is the practice of attaining peace through patience, prudence, diligence, an active faith, and in sum, spiritual investment.

When life runs swimmingly—and for the most part it does—wisdom enhances the quality of our lives by helping us grow through relatively dry times.

Peace is a spiritual outcome. Achieving such contentedness during level, uneventful times is about growth; pushing ourselves in healthy ways so we augment the best of life results. When life flows well growth is not so easy, but peace is dependent on it, and wisdom insists upon it.

The Way of Overcoming

Infrequently, times of trial perplex us. Against the flow of our feelings, though, comes the state of peace through a method of overcoming. So much of the gospel of God is devoted to such truth.

The way of overcoming is the means to peace for all other situations where wisdom is thwarted. As there are times for wisdom, so there are also times for overcoming. Overcoming, of itself, can be seen as a nuance of wisdom, certainly from the aspect of hindsight.

This way to peace is grounded in the reality that God identifies, acutely, with any level or manifestation of our suffering. And still, the power of God is resplendent most poignantly via modes of such spiritual poverty.

Peace is known, miraculously it seems, in the heat of the suffering moment, for the hope God infuses through us for a future we hope for, but cannot yet see.

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Two ways exist making life best. Two ways encompass every life situation, challenge, and problem. Two ways provides options. There are two ways to peace: wisdom and overcoming.

The Lord has provided a way through every situation. Whether it is by wisdom or overcoming, we have a way to grow or to struggle well—there are two ways to peace.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.