Billionaire weapons manufacturer Tony Stark’s announcement of his plan to beat his twenty-first century pruning hooks into modern day plowshares causes quite a stir. He freed himself from an Afghan cave controlled by ambitious warlord Raza, by constructing an impregnable, gravity-defying suit of armor from random weapons he finds in the cave. Now Tony sees that the weapons he has made for good have been used for ill by America’s enemies.
Tony, like some Americans, decides that the answer to war is to stop making pruning hooks.
Instead of using his giant brain to invent new and improved weapons, Tony commits himself to producing an improved version of his improvised outfit, which he will use for altruistic purposes later on.
But the human heart remains unaltered, and so fierce conflict resumes.
Tony realizes what Christians know already:Â real peace is not a matter of the elimination of weapons. War can be waged with plowshares and his new peace seeking suits of armor, as well pruning hooks and Daisy bombs.
Real peace requires, first of all, peace between oneself and God. One has to finally stop fighting God’s will for one’s life. One can’t negotiate that peace. And no truces are possible. God requires nothing less than unconditional surrender to his rule and reign forever.
But how can you surrender when you can’t stop the human heart from wanting what it wants?
Jesus says you must be born again – with a new heart.
A heart which seeks not your own kingdom, but His.
A heart which aligns itself not with the world, but with His righteousness.
Only when we admit that our human spirit is poor indeed can we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Only then may we be worthy to be called peacemakers, the sons of God.
Only when our allegiance is totally to our King can peace be possible between members of that Kingdom.
Real peace comes not from Iron Man.
For real peace, go to the Rock.
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