Trigger warning: This is a follow-up to the previous “Presence Without Performance” series and deals with one specific problem from that series that has a much deeper impact on society than most people realize. This is part six of seven.
Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live(ESV)
There are two tables set before us. One is clean, polished, and quiet. The other is raw, exposed, and honest. One invites you to pretend everything is okay. The other invites you to bring your wounds and sit in the mess while Christ does the healing. Both call themselves peace. But only one leads to life.
False Peace vs. True Peace
Here’s the reality we all have to face: not all peace is from God. Some peace is built on fear. Some peace is built on control. Some peace is built on silence, compromise, and comfort. And God calls that peace a lie.
Let’s break it down:
| False Peace | True Peace |
| Demands silence | Invites truth |
| Prioritizes image | Prioritizes integrity |
| Avoids discomfort | Embraces refinement |
| Maintains control | Surrenders to Christ |
| Punishes confrontation | Honors accountability |
| Numbs the pain | Heals the wound |
| Built on fear | Built on faith |
| Defends comfort | Defends righteousness |
| Sourced in man | Sourced in God |
Isaiah 48:22
“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”(ESV)
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.(ESV)
The counterfeit peace looks safer—but it’s only quiet because truth has been buried under shame and self-preservation. It’s the peace of a sealed tomb, not a resurrected life.
God’s Peace Isn’t Polite. It’s Powerful.
God’s peace doesn’t ask for your image. It demands your repentance.
God’s peace doesn’t avoid pain. It walks you through it.
God’s peace doesn’t play nice with sin. It drives it out with authority.
Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.(ESV)
The peace of Christ is not passive. It rules. It has weight. It has authority. It takes up space in your heart and refuses to let anything false live there.
Which Table Are You Sitting At?
It’s a hard question, but we all have to ask it:
- Have you been calling your silence “wisdom”?
- Have you kept things smooth on the surface to avoid the cost of healing?
- Have you made peace with dysfunction because calling it out would make people uncomfortable?
If so, there’s grace. But there’s also a call to change tables.
Don’t eat another meal in the house of false peace. Get up. Walk across the room. Sit at the table Christ set for you.
It’s not clean. It’s not polished. But it’s holy. And it’s real.
Next in the Series
The final post in the series will be the call to action—the moment where we stop talking about peace and start choosing it. Not the fake kind. The kind that bleeds, heals, confronts, and restores.
The kind that Jesus died to give us.
Walking With Christ 
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