Certainly, though I am still wrestling with this so bear with me. When I say external peace, I am talking about "world peace"; the opposite of war. Internal peace is the quiet, calming spirit of Jesus that holds us when we find ourselves in our anxieties and worries. What I wrestle with is the implication I am making by defining two different kinds of peace when I do believe that peace is peace. One is on a macro (external) level and one is on a micro (internal) level but the peace that changes a man's heart is the same peace that eventually stops a war making peace far smaller yet far bigger than what I can comprehend. Peace is cosmic and surpasses all understanding. A pesky, fallible human like myself can only categorize such a thing into dualistic blacks and whites so I am tempted to believe that when Jesus said, "blessed are the peacemakers" he could only either mean the man who reconciles with his brother or the politician who stops a war. These feel like different scenarios but the peace that surpasses understanding is involved in both of these things even if the brother will offend again or if the politician only stopped a war by funding the strongest side. So, in short, I do think that the peace that holds us in quiet moments is not quite the same as the peace that stops a global conflict but at the same time, I do believe that peace is peace. Pardon my clumsiness through these thoughts and thanks for reading!
Excellent analysis; could you clarify how the external peace difer from the internal understanding you initially sought to develop?
Certainly, though I am still wrestling with this so bear with me. When I say external peace, I am talking about "world peace"; the opposite of war. Internal peace is the quiet, calming spirit of Jesus that holds us when we find ourselves in our anxieties and worries. What I wrestle with is the implication I am making by defining two different kinds of peace when I do believe that peace is peace. One is on a macro (external) level and one is on a micro (internal) level but the peace that changes a man's heart is the same peace that eventually stops a war making peace far smaller yet far bigger than what I can comprehend. Peace is cosmic and surpasses all understanding. A pesky, fallible human like myself can only categorize such a thing into dualistic blacks and whites so I am tempted to believe that when Jesus said, "blessed are the peacemakers" he could only either mean the man who reconciles with his brother or the politician who stops a war. These feel like different scenarios but the peace that surpasses understanding is involved in both of these things even if the brother will offend again or if the politician only stopped a war by funding the strongest side. So, in short, I do think that the peace that holds us in quiet moments is not quite the same as the peace that stops a global conflict but at the same time, I do believe that peace is peace. Pardon my clumsiness through these thoughts and thanks for reading!