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78. Peace-Making Can Be Hard Work


Matthew 5:9, Psalm 122
Key Verse: For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "peace be within you.” 
Psalm 122:8

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal.”  (Isaiah 26:3-4) Focusing on God and not on our circumstances is God's prescription for peace. 

Yet, in this beatitude, Jesus is not talking to those who are at peace.  He does not say, "blessed are the peace keepers.”  Rather He says, "blessed are the peace makers for they will be called the children of God.  This is because peace-making, is what Jesus was all about. 

In the Christmas carol, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” we sing, "Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”  Christ came to be the peacemaker between man and God.  True children of God, the heavenly Father, should do as our first brother did and make peace among each other. 

The opposite of a peacemaker is a troublemaker.  We know who they are.  We are troublemakers when we insist on having our own way.  We are troublemakers when we put our needs and wants above other people.  We are troublemakers when we give in to selfishness and our desire to please our sinful nature.  We are troublemakers when we behave the opposite of Christ. 

Peace-makers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:18)  It is by peace-making that we become healers.  It is in peace-making that we become imitators of Christ. 

When you are a peace maker, you become the bridge between two opinions to promote understanding.  Peacemakers are listeners, not dictators.  They work to help those in opposition see another point of view. 

Perhaps the hardest peace-making you are called to do is not when you are stepping in to mediate between two opponents, but when you are one of the opponents.  That’s when Christ calls us make peace rather than argue. What the other is saying must be considered thoughtfully to see if there is any truth to be heard from them. 

Yet, even in Jesus, who was perfect, we learn how this is done.  The commandments were His inspired instructions about how things should be done and, as we all know, while He certainly accepted the responsibility to let us know how we would be most blessed to live, we didn't follow very well.  However, instead of dictating and demanding, Jesus the peacemaker came to live among us and see life from our point of view.  In so doing he earned the right to be heard. 

Then Paul in teaching that our attitude should be like that of Christ wrote, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  (Phil.  2:3-4) This is a peace making strategy if ever there were one.  Surely, those who practice such are worthy to be called children of God. 

Hymn:  “The Prayer of Saint Francis”

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