Church In Montréal

Let the Peace of Christ Arbitrate in Your Hearts

Understanding and Applying the Verse Col. 3:15a
Verse Col. 3:15a --- Let the peace of Christ arbitrate ( or rule ) in your hearts --- is a very famous verse, and seems not too difficult to understand. To arbitrate is to umpire, preside, be enthroned as a ruler and decider of everything ( footnotes of RcV ); also to rule means to act as judge or president according to Young’s Concordance. However, when we “meditate” on it, we may find out it is not as simple as we thought.

Usually, we may consider this verse in a common selfish way. If anyone had an argument with you or complaint against you, you may pray to the Lord to enlighten this one to accept that he or she is wrong. You could further ask the Lord to condemn or at least, deal with this one. In a more reasonable mood you may ask the Lord to be the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong. If the opposite is wrong, you may be willingly to forgive; or if you are wrong, you could ask for forgiveness. Thus, the peace of Christ may be maintained or restored. If we practice the latter way, we may have a peaceful and harmonic life.

Actually, the spiritual principle of this verse is much deeper and higher than the above and can be illuminated as following: Since the Lord is the Master, the Ruler, the Judge and the Umpire, whatever He says is absolutely right all the time. We have no other choice but to be obedient to Him. What does this mean? It means when you are wrong, of course, He shows you are wrong; but when you are right, He also shows you are wrong. In other words, in all situations you are wrong , you are the one who should apologize and ask for forgiveness, no matter what! If you feel you are 100% right and would not follow the Lord’s words, and you murmur and even argue with the Lord in your heart, then you would lose His presence and miss His peace within you. You may hold firmly your “right”, but His peace is gone and His presence disappears. What will you do then? There is nothing you can do, except surrender to the Lord! Let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your heart, and accept His ruling, go and say sorry to the opposite one. Only through this kind of exercise the situation may be reconciled and the relationship can be harmonized.

Understanding this verse is one thing, and applying it is quite another. When you put it in practice, you need to lose “face” --- which is a great thing to us ---, you need to silence your opinion, even your best opinion, eventually, all your good points, pride, merits, etc. will be crossed out . Between husband and wife this is already not easy to handle. Whereas among brothers or sisters this could become unbearable. Yet all of us have to learn, understand, experience, apply and practice this verse in our daily life. More than that, this verse is the only solution to all the problems, the only medicine to soothe all the sorrows, and the only way to keep us in peace and harmony in our marriage life, in our family life, and in our church life. May our Lord be merciful and gracious to us, deliver us from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, transfer us to the divine and spiritual realm where His peace, rest, satisfaction, joy, enjoyment, etc. etc. are.

Bro. Joseph