What my grill taught me about becoming more like Jesus – 1 Thessalonians 5:23–28, Part 1

My brother received a new grill as a gift, and he posted on social media that he was giving away his old one.  His old grill is better than mine, so when I saw my brother’s offer, I texted him, and I was thankful that I was the first person to respond.  He delivered the grill to me a few weeks later at a family function.

But there were some problems.  First, to fit the grill in their van, my brother and nephews needed to disassemble it bit.  But they got stuck removing a side tray.  The grill would not fit into the van with the side tray on.  They had to get it off.  So they took a sawzall and cut it off. 

The grill minus the side tray could fit into the van.  But when one of my nephews closed the van’s back hatch, it snapped off the grill cover handle.  The grill, a bit worse for the wear, was now in the van, and ready for delivery. 

So I had a new grill with a few issues. Not only was the side tray sawn off, and the grill handle broken, but the cooking grate was rusted and one of the flame covers no longer fit. The grill also had carbon deposits here and there, as all grills do.  My old grill is far dirtier than the new grill. All in all, my new grill was an improvement over my old grill, but it needed some rehab.

I share this story about the grill as a metaphor for us humans.  We need rehab too.  We are broken, with our own carbon deposits on us from the flames of various situations in life.  Some of those situations are of our own making.  Some are dumped on us by others. 

We might need cleaning.  And that topic is what Paul writes about at the conclusion of his letter, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5

First, in verse 23, Paul describes God as the God of peace.  When you think of God, do you think of God as a God of peace?  Perhaps sometimes you do.  At Christmas we hear Jesus described as the Prince of Peace. It seems to me, however, that Christians are likely more often to think of God as holy or loving.  So it is interesting that Paul chooses to describe God by the word “peace” here. 

God is the God of peace.  Paul was a good Jew, and it is difficult to overstate how important the concept of peace is for the Jews.  Peace in Hebrew is the word “shalom.” Shalom is an expansive concept that refers to wholeness, when things are at right between God and people, between people and other people, between people and themselves.  When you think of shalom, it is a greeting, but it is so much more.  It is when things are at peace, right, whole.  To put it another way, shalom is when things are flourishing. 

As the God of peace, God wants us to experience flourishing.  Of course that flourishing has in view eternal life, but God also wants humans to experience the flourishing of shalom now.  Because we live in the here and now, I am quite excited that God is a God of peace who wants us to flourish now.  Can you imagine how awful it would be if God said, “I only want you to experience flourishing after you die.  Before that day, I really don’t care what you go through.” 

No, God is a God who deeply cares about us now.  This title, “God of peace” signifies something wonderful about God, about his desire.  But it is not just God’s desire. In the next post, we learn how God’s heart for peace is active.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash