On the night I began preparing this devotional thought, my
daughter shared an experience of personal and racial insult that had been
directed towards her that fired the fury within me. As I shared my angst through posting and
contemplated how I might deal with the situation, I remembered the subject at hand
– Be A Peacemaker!
As I considered Biblical ammunition that would support a more
martial approach to conflict resolution, “To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under Heaven. A time of war…” I also remembered the
words of Jesus in Luke Chapter 6, “Blessed
are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject
your name as evil… Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your
reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” Soon thereafter, Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount came
to mind, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
It occurred to me that the most important time to act like a
Child of God, is when people call you everything BUT a child of God! When the conflict is most intense, the need
for peace is most acute. The Bible is
clear, when conflict arises, peacemakers must rise up as well, ready to combat
hostility with truth, love, forgiveness, resilience and joy. After sharing, Victoria invited me to pay a
game of indoor catch while we swap stories and discuss matters of import. Our time was cathartic and allowed me to renew
my thoughts and regain my resolve to answer hatred with loving compassion.
It is the peacemakers that Jesus said bear unmistakable
resemblance to the Heavenly Father. The
best time to display traits of the family of God is when the heat is on! Let us obey His commands to love our enemies and
pray for those who provoke and disparage us, “that [we] may be children of [our]
Father in heaven.”
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