Day 27: Blessed are the peacemakers

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Verse:  Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Thought

I used to do a bit of scuba diving.  I have always love being underwater – it seems so peaceful and quiet.  The deeper you go the stiller it gets.  There can be a storm on the surface, with rough waves and wild wind, but if you are deep under water, all is calm and still. 

We should find our Christianity like that.  Whatever strife or trouble is raging, that deep sense of peace that God gives should be resting in our heart and soul. Peacemakers draw their peace from God.

God longs for peace on earth.  He created a peaceful world and promises an eternity of peace.  Yet in the middle we have this man-created chaos.

We seem incapable of peace.  More and more people are suffering from mental and emotional illness.  Families are breaking up, neighbours are bringing law against each other,  people are involved in endless disputes at work and at home.

None of us want this unhappiness and needless pain.

Peacemakers build bridges between people.  I can be a fairly quarrelsome person sometimes.  I get a perverse pleasure out of making little comments aimed to rile.  Almost point scoring.   It is an unpleasant side of me, I know.  My poor husband probably bears the brunt of this.  To my shame, Joe pointed out that he thinks “Daddy and you quarrel too much”.  I was mortified.  I recognise that a lot of the quarrels are entirely avoidable and probably my fault.  David is a gentle and fair-minded person.  I have made a concerted effort not to bait and niggle, and funnily enough we are all happier and life is good.  What Joe did was make me stop and look at myself and draw closer to David.

In a sense that's what Christ did: He provided the righteousness that allows man and God to join hands. It was Christ's sacrifice on the cross that made peace between God and man. But Christ's death on the cross provided the righteousness that alone makes real peace.

But conversely, we also need to ensure that we  aren’t compromising our beliefs and principles for the sake of peace.  To be a peace maker doesn’t mean call a truce.  We need to aim to resolve problems with the truth, by bringing the righteousness of God into the equation. Peacemakers don't avoid spiritual conflicts--they dive into the middle of them.

The peace that God offers is real and lasting and it is eternal.  To be effective as a peacemaker you must maintain your peace with God. As Christians, we need to try to bring back the peace of God that we have lost through sin.  

Prayer

Help me to be a peacemaker Father God.  Let me look for your truth in problems and situation.  Help me not to compromise but to aim for what is right.  May your peace reign throughout the world.