The ability to resolve conflicts is a gift. Being a peacemaker does not mean compromising everything. Peacemakers have integrity—they won’t yield the key point, but they will yield pride and anything else that might get in the way of peace. Ronald Reagan never compromised on SDI, but was able to make peace with Mikhail Gorbachev and the USSR, ending the Cold War.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” Matthew 5:9.
The ultimate peacemaker is God Himself. Jesus died to make peace between man and God. God is in the peacemaking business: between nations, between spouses, between warring armies, and between feuding friends.
“He will settle disputes among peoples and provide arbitration for nations. They will BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWS AND THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNING KNIVES. Nation will not take up sword against nation, and they will never again train for war. But each man will sit under his own grapevine and under his own fig tree….” Micah 4:3-4.
The prophet says famously, ‘they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.’ In other words, warriors will become farmers and weapons will become farming tools.
Which would you rather be? In the movies, war is all glory and adventure, but farming is the real glory. Soldiers destroy cities, crops, and lives, but farmers build and rebuild.
War is the most destructive force on the planet. Growing food may be the most beneficial. God wants you to be a grower, a builder, one who makes things right. Be a healer.
Be the lawyer who can SETTLE a case, not the one too angry to make peace.
Be the athlete who can congratulate the team that beats him.
Be the teacher who can work things out with a challenging family.
Be the writer who can draw people together, not force them to choose a side.
Be the coworker who makes the office run smoothly, not the one spreading mistrust.
God, make us peacemakers, and send us leaders who are peacemakers.
ΑΩ
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