Shoes – Gospel of Peace, Continued

¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 

Ephesians 6:13-15 (ESV)

Yesterday we explored the concept of “readiness” and reflected on what it means to be ready to share the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Today, let’s take a closer look at the source of our hope, the gospel of peace.

In case I haven’t mentioned it before, an important thing to know about me is that I’ve spent 20 years vocationally in the field of English education. I love words, and their meanings and that always gets me to thinking about their opposites as well. Thinking about peace, I can’t help but think about its opposite: war.

War and peace. Dark and light. The devil and God.

You see, the devil wants us at war with God. 1 John 3:8 makes it really clear that sin comes from the devil and that the devil is all about disobeying God. But God, God loves us and wants what is best for us; God doesn’t want us to be at war with Him, so He offers us the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:20-22).

Knowing this, how do we wear the gospel of peace like shoes? What does that mean exactly?

As I considered these questions, God led me to three truths:

1. We must seek to be at peace with God.
2. We must seek to be at peace with ourselves.
3. We must seek to be at peace with others.

For today, let’s start with being at peace with God.

Romans 5:1 tells us that “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Later in that same chapter (v.10), we see that because of our sin, we were enemies of God, but that Jesus reconciled us with God. Sweet friend, there’s no two ways about it, sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).

The first step to putting on the gospel of peace like shoes is to confess our sin and ask Jesus to save us (John 3:16). This gives us access to the shoes in the first place.

But I want us to think of the shoes of peace like shoes with laces, laces that can come loose if we are not attentive to them.

1 John 3:9 tells us that “no one born of God makes a practice of sinning”.

Why not?

Because sin in our lives grieves God (Ephesians 4:30).

Have you ever been hurt by someone you loved?

I’m sure you have. We all have. And we all know that it’s difficult to be at peace with someone who broke your heart.

Have you ever hurt someone you loved?

Again, we all have. It’s a terrible feeling. Worse often than being hurt ourselves. It’s difficult to be at peace with someone when you know you broke their heart.

Brothers and Sisters, as followers of Christ, we seek peace with God through our obedience to His Word. We are not perfect, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23-24), but we do not make a practice of sinning – we do not seek to sin on purpose, we do not actively disregard how our disobedience grieves God.

We keep the laces of the shoes of peace tight through our continued obedience and through asking forgiveness when we do disobey, by repenting, turning around and going God’s way instead of our way (1 John 1:9). We make a practice of seeking peace with God.

Take some time to reflect today on how you can keep the laces of the shoes of peace tight by seeking to be at peace with God. Tomorrow we’ll look at how to seek peace with ourselves (and let me tell you that’s a message I need reminding of every day!).

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