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Jesus Is Our Peace Today's Devotional Read: Ephesians 2:11–22 Bible in a Year: Psalms 49–50; Romans 1 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Ephesians 2:11-22 A monk named Telemachus lived a quiet life, but his death at the end of the fourth century changed the world. Visiting Rome from the East, Telemachus intervened in the blood sport of the gladiatorial arena. He jumped over the stadium wall and tried to stop the gladiators from killing each other. But the outraged crowd stoned the monk to death. The emperor Honorius, however, was moved by Telemachus’ act and decreed the end of the 500-year practice of gladiator games. When Paul calls Jesus “our peace,” he refers to the end of hostility between Jews and gentiles (Ephesians 2. God’s chosen people Israel were distinct from the nations and enjoyed certain privileges. For instance, while gentiles were allowed worship at the Jerusalem temple, a dividing wall restricted them the outer court— punishment of death. Jews regarded gentiles unclean, and they experienced mutual hostility. But now, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection for , both Jew and gentile can worship God freely through faith in Him (vv. 18–22). There’s no dividing wall. There’s no privilege of one group over the other. Both are equal in their standing before God. Just as Telemachus brought peace warriors through his death, so Jesus makes peace and reconciliation possible for who believe in Him through His death and resurrection. So, if Jesus is our peace, let’s not let our differences divide us. He’s made us one by His blood. How do you reveal you’re at peace with people? What issues—such as race, status, or privilege—sometimes get in the way? Why? Dear God of peace, You’ve made us one in Jesus. Help me know it and live it. 
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Sadly, there are Christians who can't seem to walk in that peace and love towards others. They harass and harangue nonbelievers and other Christians alike, over the differences in their beliefs. One example was a coworker years ago, who attended a church that had many "don'ts" in their doctrines and every time we took supper break together, she started in about how other churches were totally wrong because women shouldn't cut their hair or wear pants, etc. There were so many other things we could have discussed, but she always twisted it around to attacks on others. I finally started making excuses to take my break at a different time. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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Some years ago I became friendly with a young gay neighbour. He had had a traumatic childhood, moved from foster home to foster home until a childless couple from The Brethren religious sect took him in. He was very gifted, intelligent and also very sensitive. When I met him, he had moved out of the family home because his Brethren family wouldn't accept his homosexuality. It wasn't hard to see how much it tore him - the rejection and need for family support. He was a very troubled, lost soul and looked for acceptance at gay bars. I really liked him and can only hope he found acceptance in another Christian church. As you probably know, The Brethren follow a rigid code of conduct.
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Some years ago I became friendly with a young gay neighbour. He had had a traumatic childhood, moved from foster home to foster home until a childless couple from The Brethren religious sect took him in. He was very gifted, intelligent and also very sensitive. When I met him, he had moved out of the family home because his Brethren family wouldn't accept his homosexuality. It wasn't hard to see how much it tore him - the rejection and need for family support. He was a very troubled, lost soul and looked for acceptance at gay bars. I really liked him and can only hope he found acceptance in another Christian church. As you probably know, The Brethren follow a rigid code of conduct. I asked him how he could still live there under those conditions. He said that the love of God held him there, in the hopes that his family could learn to know the Lord like He did, because they were so bound up in rules and regulations, they didn't even know God, just their church. Another young girl I knew, when she came to the knowledge of Jesus and salvation, was not ostracized by her family, even though their Amish elders told them they had to do it. The elders paid them a visit and complained because they had allowed the girl to put a telephone into their home. It didn't attach to the home, but to a pole and was only in her room, but she needed it for her job. She was "on call" at the facility where I worked. During that elders visit, her parents were threatened with excommunication themselves, and they ordered the elders out of the house. They started attending church with their daughter, were born again and began life afresh. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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