Candle of Peace

A group of academics and historians has compiled this startling information: Since 3600 B.C., the world has known only 292 years of peace! During this period there have been 14,351 wars large and small, in which 3.64 billion people have been killed.

I am an idealist and believe that peace is attainable, but perhaps not. Perhaps greed and selfishness will always cause enmity, fighting, and war. But there is a peace that surpasses understanding. There is a peace that gives assurance even in the face of an attacking enemy. The peace is between humanity and their Creator:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For Jesus himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Ephesians 2:13-14; 17

I have often equated peace with safety. But safety does not exist in the absence of danger but in the presence of God. Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always. His arrival in this world was the first step towards world peace first with the Creator, then with one another.