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PROGRAM D-8013
Are you a peacekeeper or a peacemaker? I’m sharing about our commission as Christ-followers to be peacemakers. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Someone has said that peacekeeping originates from fear, and peacemaking comes from a heart of love. That’s a really good way to define the difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking.
Every believer should be a member of The Jesus Peace Corps, so that in our families, on our jobs, and in all of our relationships, we move toward lasting peace with courage. You are called by Jesus to be a peacemaker, so be willing to have brave conversations—the hard ones that are necessary for making peace.
In Psalm 34:14 we read that we should “turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Making peace won’t just happen. You have to search for it and work to maintain it.
I think we are all aware that there is a heightened sense of disunity and even hatred in our world today. Leaders seem to have a great deal of difficulty making peace, don’t they? There is an elevated atmosphere of contention with, it seems, little desire to come together and work for the good of all. As believers in Christ, we should never, in any way, contribute to that atmosphere; instead, we all called to be the peacemakers of the world.
You may be thinking that you have no power to be a peacemaker in the world, but that is not true. You indeed have power to be a peacemaker in your world, wherever that is. Ask yourself if there is anyone in your world with whom you are not at peace. If so, what have you done to bring peace to that relationship? Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Are you willing to let go of the finger-pointing and blame-game, and make the first move to bring peace to that relationship? Have you done all you can do to live at peace with that person?
If you’ve given up on making peace with him or her, I would encourage you—no, urge you—to take another look at it and ask God what else you can do to live at peace. Maybe there has to be a brave conversation, which you initiate, and you do so in love and in obedience to the Lord.
Peacemaking is not easy—that’s why we have God’s Holy Spirit to help us—but you have to pursue peace. Go for it! I pray you will become a member of The Jesus Peace Corps and, by God’s grace, begin in your world to seek peace and pursue it.