Shalom: the way things ought to be

If you are like me, you are longing for a lot of shalom these days. As I sit here writing this post I have a very strong desire to know and experience life as it was meant to be because things are not the way they are supposed to be anywhere in this world. So as I sit here aware of my deep desire, I remind myself of the great Gospel of Shalom.

“The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be...every one of us does possess the notion of a world in which things are as they ought to be. 'The way things ought to be' in its Christian understanding includes the constitution and internal relations of a very large number of entities--the Holy Trinity, the physical world in all its fullness, the human race, particular communities within this race (such as the ancient people of Israel, the New Testament church, the American Federation of Musicians), families, married couples, groups of friends, individual human beings. In a shalomic state each entity would have its own integrity or structured wholeness, and each would also possess many edifying relations to other entities.” (Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, p. 10).