Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9
Recently, one of our sisters here had a concern with me that she needed to talk about. So she set up a time to come by my office, and she simply and kindly shared this concern with me. It was a beautiful conversation, and I was greatly encouraged by her love, her zeal for the Lord, and her desire to be at peace with me. She is a peacemaker.
Recently, I heard from another sister about an encounter she had with some friends who are not part of this church. These other friends were just beginning what was sure to become a prolonged and significant disagreement that seriously threatened their friendship. So our sister, having the ability to understand the perspective of both parties, was able to foster much needed communication between them; and, praise God, they were reconciled! She is a peacemaker.
These are real people. I didn’t make them up. Jesus says that these two sisters are called “daughters of God”. Why? Because they worked to reconcile relationships, and that is what God does. He is a reconciler. He is a pursuer of peace.
God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
When we take a problem directly to the person with whom we have that problem, we are pursuing relationship over retaliation. We are pursuing peace, and that is God-like. When we spread that problem around to anyone except that person, we are pursuing backbiting over communication. We are pursuing discord, and that is not like God.
When we see a friendship dissolving, and we do everything we can to bring those friends together to talk, we are pursuing connection over gossip. We are pursuing peace, and that is God-like. When we stoke the fire with “did you hear what he/she said,” we are pursuing selfish advantage over relationship. We are pursuing discord, and that is not like God.
May we all be willing to have difficult conversations. May we all be willing to foster communication in every context. May we all be true peacemakers.
– Deryk Pritchard, Preacher
