Back to School 
Pause
For lots of students, going back to school means trying on new or hand-me-down clothes, finding shoes that fit growing feet, or getting that required uniform for the dance or sports team.
In addition to the outfit you put on this morning, consider what it might look like to “put on” something else today — to clothe yourself with Christ.
Listen
The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people.
Colossians 3:15
Think
Some outfits we put on in the morning are just made for blending in: those comfy jeans, that favorite t-shirt, those sandals that everyone has.
And some outfits are all about standing out in a crowd: they grab attention, they’re unique, they make a statement!
When I think about clothing myself with peace, I first imagine one of those outfits that just blends in. Keeping the peace could look like avoiding attention, just being nice and easy-going, adapting to what others think and say, blending in with the crowd.
But on second thought, I wonder if the call to wear the peace of Christ might not actually be a challenge for us to make more of a statement. Peace, as practiced by Jesus, has the strength to transform hearts and relationships. It’s an active peace that engages difference – instead of running away from it. This peace stands up. It includes. It seeks understanding. This kind of peace isn’t about blending in, but has the power to set the trend.
If we could just be so bold.
Meredith Forssman
Pray
God of Peace, which surpasses all my understanding, show me where I can make a statement with your kind of peace today. Amen.
Go
You are always in God’s sight pleasing,
always in God’s sight lovely,
always in God’s sight as though you were perfect.
For you are complete in Christ Jesus, and perfect in Christ Jesus.
You stand fully clothed in Christ.
Always.
Based on words by the great 19th-century preacher, Charles Spurgeon
