"Piece by Peace"

Examine these lyrics by legendary Folk pioneer Woody Guthrie.


"My Peace"
(Words by Woody Guthrie, Music by Arlo Guthrie)


My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you
My peace is all I ever had that’s all I ever knew
I give my peace to green and black and red and white and blue
My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you

My peace, my peace is all I’ve got and all I've ever known
My peace is worth a thousand times more than anything I own
I pass my peace around and about ‘cross hands of every hue;
I guess my peace is justa ‘bout all I’ve got to give to you

If only it were that simple Woody! Make no mistake, the inate human longing for peace, love, and harmony is perhaps the most noble of ideas, in theory. But that's the problem, its only a theory. Its a bad case of "if only" syndrome. "If only this or that would happen." It cannot only be "if", but also "how?".

What a wonderful world it would be if all people from all walks of life would simply love and respect each other! Sadly, the notion of peace in and of itself is nothing more than a fleeting "pipe-dream". The catalyst of  war (and its rumors), murder, rape, robbery, and every other evil has nothing to do with the tangible world. The origins of evil have everything to do with the utter brokenness of the human heart. Some say evil is just "the nature of the beast". On the contrary, evil exists because we all posses the most beastly of nature.

No treaty, restriction, ideal, propaganda or fantasy will ever fix the broken light bulb in our darkened souls. No cleverly worded statement will ever mask the fact that we cannot have outer peace until we on the inside are pieced together, and the only remedy for that fracture is Jesus Christ.He is the only "how" in the question of "How do we have peace on earth?" There is  no other way.

Until this profoundly simple truth is accepted, the same viscous and deadly cycle will occur, with the names simply changed, until kingdom come (and it will come). The most vile of atrocities will continue to unravel until we all figure this one out. There's no getting around it. 

When philosopher and theologian G.K. Chesterton was asked, "What's wrong with the world?" he simply replied, "I am. Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton." I am whats wrong with the world. You are what's wrong with the world.

You see, we would all like to talk of the way things should be. But human nature will always destructively triumph over good intentions or high hopes. Christ is the only answer. Only he can reshape the shapeless.

Our world will never fully experience or understand true peace until the human heart is put back together, piece by broken peace, through Jesus Christ.