There is an interesting irony this month. March, named for the Roman god of war, Mars, (until 750 B.C., the first month in the Roman calendar-I guess the Romans thought war the most important thing to schedule first), is also the birth month of the Peace Corps. On March 1, 1961 President John F. Kennedy started that organization. What a fascinating concurrence, an organization dedicated to the service of others in he name of peace, started in the month named for war.

On the other hand, according to Exodus 12.2, the first month for the Jews was to be the month of Passover, the month of remembering God’s deliverance from slavery to Egypt, a prefiguring of God’s delivering us from our slavery to sin. The first month was a picture of war in one sense, God’s war against sin and the gods of this world, (think of the ten plagues in Egypt), and a picture of peace on the other, the peace that God brought about for and with His people in delivering them from Egypt and sin and calling them to Himself, to His worship, and to the place He had prepared for them.

My point is simply this: God placed war and peace in a juxtaposition in the first month in His calendar for us to understand the importance of His and our war against sin and especially the importance of His purchasing peace in the blood of the true Passover Lamb: the Lord Jesus Christ. That the celebration of Passover is no longer in the first month, and that it does not always occur in March, but often occurs in April does not lessen the significance.

We need to appreciate and remember that in this world, every day of the calendar means war for the Christian, a never-ending war against sin and its strangle-hold on us. But the really good news, and the really important thing to remember, again every day of the calendar, is that Jesus won that war on Calvary and purchased our peace with Himself: we are free from sin and victors over sin, daily.

So, this month when you look at the calendar, reflect on the irony: March, named for a pagan god of war, and the birth month of the Peace Corps. And then reflect on the compound irony: God, the God of peace uses such ironies in our world to remind us of His war that purchased our peace, in this month and every month. You think about that. And praise the God of war and peace.