shalom, baby
for awhile now i have been signing emails and notes with a blessing:
shalom
and yet, it occurs to me that the recipients of this benediction might think that i have converted to judaism or something... i mean, christians don't speak hebrew do they? (jokes)
i read something this morning by john wesley that characterizes shalom.
a right heart toward God and man implies happiness as well as holiness. for it is also 'peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.' what peace? the peace of God, which only God can give, and the world cannot take away. it is a supernatural sensation, a divine taste of 'the powers of the world to come' such as a person in his natural, unconverted state does not know.
it is a peace that banishes all doubt and painful uncertainty because the Spirit of God bears witness with the spirit of a christian that he or she is a child of God. it banishes tormenting fear: the fear of the wrath of God, the fear of hell, the fear of the devil, and in particular, the fear of death. the one who has the peace of God desires, as did the apostle paul, if it be the will of God, 'to depart and to be with Christ.'
the soul wants to be in the presence of the One it loves.
so, when i sign off with a shalom, this is what i am inviting from God on your behalf. hope that's okay.
posted by jollybeggar @ 8:23 AM
2 Comments:
that's perfectly cool!
It's weird but I have one of these sayings I have adopted for daily use...'true'. I have heard 'amen' and stuff of the similar vein but I found out that 'amen' also means 'true' so I started using it and now it's part of the speech I use on a daily. Call it the 'englishization' of a word. Peace!
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