Peace Catalyst International: Chandler, AZ

Let me give a gift to all of those burnt-out, disturbed, and anxious peacemakers out there!

Here it is... Rest!

I’m writing this at 5:30am in the morning and have already been awake for an hour. I currently have 43 emails to answer and 23 tasks on my to-do list.

And this is supposed to be my day off.

I wake up early so I can get a jump start on the day. Right now, my wife, daughter, and two Saudi Arabian roomates are asleep. When they wake up, I will need to give my attention to them, so I wake up early, sneak into the living room, and give in to my perverse need to get things done.

My email and task list call out to me, compelling me not to read, write, pray, go for a walk, play with my daughter, or do any of the other restorative things that let me rest in God.

Here’s how crazy I can be with work. Last night, while coloring with my daughter, I actually started diagramming org charts and the business model for PCI.

Yep, I’m that guy.

The task-list mocks me and condemns me, saying that I’m a fake and asking how I could rest when there is so much peacemaking work that needs to be done.

However, when I open up the Bible and read the robust peacemaking passages that typically inspire me to work for peace, the Spirit of God speaks a different message than the task-list. The Spirit illumines God’s Word and gives me a gift.

Here it is... Rest!

How can we rest when so much needs to be done? It’s because both permanent and temporal, vertical and horizontal, international and interpersonal, peace ultimately comes from God. He is the first and ultimate peacemaker.

Let the truth of God’s Word give you rest:  

For to us a child is born,              

to us a son is given;        

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,                

and his name shall be called        

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,                

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.        

Of the increase of his government and of peace                

there will be no end,        

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,                

to establish it and to uphold it        

with justice and with righteousness                

from this time forth and forevermore.        

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

This beautiful, messianic, chapter in Isaiah points to Prince of Peace and a future of peace, but it’s also important that we are gripped by the last line. It’s the zeal of the Lord - not your zeal, not my zeal, but the zeal of the Lord - that will accomplish peace.

The peacemaker’s invitation to rest is also found in the Psalms:

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;                

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;                

he burns the chariots with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God.                

I will be exalted among the nations,              

I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:9-10 ESV)

God is the active peacemaker who makes wars and strife cease. Therefore, we can set down our task-list and be still, marinating in knowledge of God and resting in a world of chaos and conflict.
Of course, there is much work to be done. The emails must be answered, the events must be planned, and it’s important that the task-list is attended to, but we should work with restful heart and feel the freedom to set apart some time to rest each day, each week, and each year.

So to the peacemakers who are exhausted, receive this gift from God:

Here it is:

Rest!

Jim Mullins is the Vice President and Co-founder of Peace Catalyst International. He’s also a pastor and social entrepreneur who is passionate about creative, out-of-the box, entrepreneurial peacemaking initiatives. Visit his personal blog at www.glocalneighbor.com.

by: Jim Mullins | Categories: Peacemaking