Being a Godly Peacemaker:

One of the Beatitudes is to be a peacemaker.  Being a peacemaker is an important role from our God in heaven because He is the Lord of peace.  He is the Lord over everyone receiving peace.  He is a God who desires there to be peace for all those in the world.  This is why He wants us all to have a relationship with Him, so we can know great peace.  This peace will encompass us completely and wholly.  This is His peace, not the peace of the world.  

The world is not filled with peace.  The world is incredibly far away from peace.  This is something we can all clearly see in our day to day life.  There are so many arguments and issues amongst everyone in the world.  There are a lot of wars.  There are a lot of people being hurt and a lot of people who are doing very evil things.  There are also a lot of people who are struggling with peace through their stress, anxiety, and depression.  The mental health epidemic is very prominent, especially in the United States.  There are so many people who are struggling to see themselves in peace. 

However, this beatitude often gets confused with never having arguments.  Sometimes we can believe this means we should never ever have arguments or disagreements between each other.  We may believe we can never be involved in a conflict.  We may believe we can never speak up for ourselves or for others.  We may believe we can never be involved in any debate.  However, this is a very passive form of peace.  In the end, this really doesn’t create peace.  There still may be a building up of resentment and bitterness not being discussed for fear of not being a peacemaker.  When a person is able to have healthy discussions, debates, and even work through conflict in the goal and pursuit of finding peace, not just for man but for God, then that is when we are being God’s peacemakers. 

One quote from the devotional book I have been reading is, “Being a peacemaker is not about passivity.  This is about a fervent desire for all to find shalom peace with God.”  We are called to be kind and to make sure not to start random arguments.  However, this doesn’t mean we can’t ever argue or have disagreements. We are most likely going to encounter disagreements and have arguments with people, but it is important how we argue and how we can turn people towards God even in the midst of conflict.  If they are walking down a wrong path or are struggling, we can be the ones to help guide them to God through our peaceful state.  The most true form of peace is knowing God, and this can be done in helping others find Him as well. 

Besides the Beatitudes in Matthew, chapter 5, there are a few other passages throughout the Bible mentioning the role of being peaceful and being a peacemaker.  One is Ephesians 4:1-3 which says, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,  with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

I love to have peace.  I love being in a  peaceful state, and I really don’t like to be in arguments with anyone.   I try to keep the peace in most situations.  However, there have been times when I have needed to have discussions with another person to make things right or to fix issues, and I have avoided it because of my distaste of conflict.

The challenge for this week is to spend time thinking about peace.  If you are a person who struggles with your own mental peace with your own mental health, I would highly recommend spending time praying for your personal mental health and for your own personal anxiety and depression.  This can be over the simple little things you don’t feel you have any control over, to the big things in life, where you genuinely don’t trust God to have the best intentions or plans in life.  

I would also spend time thinking about how you handle disagreements and handle peace as a whole.  Is there a problem you tend to avoid because you always want to avoid conflict, even if it is affecting your walk with Christ and/or your walk with a brother or sister in Christ?  Do you tend to lean into arguments or disagreements?  Do you seek to have peace with one another and to help lead one another to know Christ?  Spend time reflecting over how you handle peace both for your personal self and for your relationship with others.