Good Friday

Virtue: Peace
Scripture:

Peace comes from unity, from broken pieces being made whole.  Sin has fractured our world: broken relationship between humanity and God, broken relationships between ourselves and others, and broken relationship between humanity and the world around us.  This fracture needed to be mended, and this is why Jesus came: to bring peace, unity, wholeness.

He can bring this peace because He Himself is at perfect peace.  There is no brokenness of relationship in Jesus.  His relationship with the Father is whole.  His relationship with every human is whole.  His relationship with creation is whole.  Being at peace Himself, He can share this peace with us.

“It is finished.”  Jesus’s last words on the cross reveal that it is through the cross that peace is accomplished.  Isaiah 53:5 says,

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. “

It is not just our peace with God that was accomplished at the cross.  Instead, we are invited in, through the cross, to experience the fullness of God’s peace in our own lives: healing all fractured relationships.

Questions:
1. What do you think living with God’s peace in your relationships with others is meant to look like?

2. How has God shown up in your life to give you needed peace?

3. What might it look like for you to live at peace with the world around you?

Action:
Remember, a virtue is not something we can just will ourselves into.  It is the excellence of God on display in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Invite the Holy Spirit to help you through this action, and join with other believers to do this action with:

Part of being at peace is seeking and giving forgiveness.  If there is anyone in your life that you are not at peace with, ask yourself if there is something you need to ask them to forgive you for; then, go to them and ask for forgiveness.

If there is anyone you are holding at fault for something in your life, intentionally forgive them and hand the fault over to God.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are my peace.  I thank you for what you have accomplished for me on the cross: restoration of relationship with you.  And I thank you for inviting me into your peace, that I might have this peace of God in my relationships with others and with the world around me.

Amen