Blessed Are the Peacemakers
May, 2020
As we are mostly sequestered within our homes in these times, we are hearing more and more stories of frustration with family members, depression, anxiety, and even a rise in domestic violence. People are irritated with people. People are having problems with people. Even some ministry leaders say they are feeling pressure and even trapped.
First let me say this is all very sad; let us continue to keep everyone in prayer so that all might find the peace that comes only from the Lord. The changes have been real, the pressure is real, and one might say and believe in the peace of God intellectually without understanding how it becomes reality in daily life.
Folks are coming face to face with what we covered in the post “I Wanna Know What Love Is” regarding the nature of love. What most people call love is really a nice feeling they get when their needs are met by someone. All fine and good, one can ride that out for a while, even a long while given the right environment; however, the lockdown has radically shaken that environment. This is when you can actually see what you really believe. This is when you will test your head knowledge against truth in application. I’ve shared this analogy before: when you squeeze an orange you expect orange juice to come out. You’d be weirded out if you got apple juice, right? Then why isn’t it just as weird, when you squeeze (pressure) a Christian, if anything but Christ comes out? What is on your inside?
People are pushing buttons on others they didn’t even know they had. I believe there’s a little bit of God’s strategy in that. We might pray and pray for God to change the situation while God just might be waiting for US to change in middle of it. After all, if He simply rescued us, we’d feel empowered to remain the same — perhaps that is not His goal?
1 Timothy 1:5 says the goal of our instruction is selfless love. How can we be so offended, miffed, frustrated, discouraged and angry while we are not seeking our own and are laying down our lives for all others? A pastor I admire often says, “It takes two to tango, only one to make peace.”
No matter what someone has said or done, Jesus is still Lord of our day, King of our life, and living inside of us moment to moment.
YAY! Rejoice and be thankful!
Use this time to abide and commune even more with Him! The moment we allow someone else to determine how we are, they have become god in that moment. Allowing the actions or words of anyone to determine our day — if their name isn’t Jesus — is idolatry.
So what now? What if you realize you’ve been focused on yourself and not being the peacemaker with others? Once you realize this is in your life (and it has been in every one of our lives at some point), if you truly want to eliminate it and change, it can happen now! Repent and reach out. Be sincere and willing to be molded into something new. Let Him renew your mind. The Holy Spirit will do the pruning to make that righteous desire a reality.
A good way to begin reframing others who have managed to annoy you lately is to consider: Have you ever been in the wrong when standing before Jesus? How did He treat you? Did He forgive you or yell at you? Did He love you and understand that you “know not what you do”, or did He get passive aggressive and give you the silent treatment for several days? That might sound a little silly, but if it sounds silly when applied to the mouth or actions of Jesus, it should be just as silly coming out of ours.
Love seeks not its own—it’s not interested in getting its way for its own benefit. It is totally and completely outward facing; it needs nothing in return and it heals all wounds. It can do nothing but create peace because it refuses to engage in anger or be drawn into unrighteousness.
We feel frustrated only when we have plans or ideas that we have put on a pedestal and others are not doing what we want or expect, negatively impacting our plans and our wishes. We feel angry when we focus on what is being done or said to us and then we allow that to affect our perceptions of others and even our own identity. This is not agape love. This is not our goal. This is not the Way that Jesus teaches us.
It doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t wrong or that they haven’t legitimately wronged you. But love takes no account of a suffered wrong (1 Cor. 13:5). Being righteous, loving others, and thus being a peacemaker is never contingent upon right and wrong. Righteousness is a humble and pure position of the heart, regardless of the situation.
Jesus was incredibly wronged when they hung Him on the cross, yet he endured it willingly —without resistance— and prayed that God would forgive all of them. He never took His eyes off what He created each person to be when all of life and society would have taught Him to feel justified in defending Himself and in feeling offended that all His best buddies ran off and deserted Him when He needed them most.
Ever been betrayed? In that moment, did you see your betrayer as someone who needed to be lifted up in prayer because they would not have done what they did if they knew God like you do? Did you love them through it all and cry out to God for them, or did you call up a friend to vent and get validation for feeling hurt, crying because of them?
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Children of God (Matthew 5:9).
Let us start now, with ourselves, in our own homes and with our own families. Let us truly surrender ourselves and let the Lord teach us the true meaning of love, so that we may be peacemakers with every person in our sphere of influence. Let us value others more than things, more than getting our way, more than our lists of endless tasks to get done. Let us deny ourselves and lay down our lives for all.
Lastly, it does not matter if anyone else follows your lead, or ever even notices that you have changed. Your Lord in Heaven sees and knows your heart (Matthew 6). Keep it pure and He will magnify the light of your life so that others may also come to see the Way.