Blessed Are the Peacemakers
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9
What is peace? It doesn’t just mean the absence of war. Even when there is no fighting among nations, there is still an uneasiness and a distrust among countries. Our nation went through what is referred to as the “cold war” for many years. There were no actual battles, but there was a sense of war breaking out at any time. The balance between peace and war is very precarious. If you think about it, it is almost like our nation is in a cold war with itself because there is so much strife and hatred among different factions. Our world and our nation will never be at real peace until Jesus returns.
As Christians we want to work for peace among our brothers and sisters of the human family. Peace must begin with each individual. Webster’s Dictionary defines peace as “an undisturbed state of mind; absence of mental conflict; serenity”. What is it that disturbs our minds? Well, of course, problems for one thing. Then there are multitudes of things that rob us of our peace. Our minds can be in a constant state of turmoil. This makes the devil happy. He is all about stealing our joy and peace. John 10:10 tells us that the devil, called “the thief”, comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”. I Peter 5:8 tells us that “the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. Our only defense against Satan is to have God’s wisdom in order to be at peace. James 3:17 tells us that “the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable”.
To be a peacemaker is to allow the wisdom of God to flow through us as it reaches out to those around us. A person who has the peace of God and is at peace with God can have a calming effect upon those in tense and trying circumstances. Peace WITH God is acquired through repentance and turning from sin, receiving the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as our only means of reconciliation with the Father. The way to obtain the peace OF God is found in Philippians 4:4-9: always rejoice in the Lord, live unselfishly and consider others at all times, don’t be anxious, but pray about everything and be sure and thank the Lord for His blessings, then, “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.
Living in this manner will show others by your love, generosity, peacefulness, and faith that there is a better way for them to live. Make them thirsty for your righteous and godly lifestyle. Let it serve also as a warning to others that Jesus will return one day. Don’t live to one extreme or the other, that is, don’t be so far to the left that anything is OK because there is always grace to cover it, and don’t live so far to the right that you have a “holier than thou” attitude and become legalistic in your dealing with others. Basically, we all need to find a good balance in our lives. The Apostle Paul also wrote that for those who follow Christ to keep their minds focused on whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, righteous, virtuous, and praiseworthy. Patterning our lifestyles after these admonitions will go a long way in helping us to be peacemakers in this world of strife, and we all know that our world could use a lot more peacemakers.