This is day seven of twenty-one days of posts between January 10th and January 30th of 2021. Hello again to those who read previous days, and hello to those of you who may have stumbled across this post “out of order”. You should go back and read from Day 1, for a few reasons. It explains why I am doing this. It is the first one, and I may make reference to something in it in this post or a later one. It also has a list with each day’s post (once they are available) and you can jump to whatever topic you are interested in. Thanks for reading!
Peace. Part of the fruit of the Spirit. Something almost everyone desires. I say almost everyone because the year 2020 firmly convinced me that there are those who do not desire peace. I know that I should have already known that, as we are told this in the Bible many times. But even those who desire peace don’t always put forth the effort to be peaceful.
Take me for example. As I have already written in this series, I lack patience and mercy. Being deficient in those two things can cause peace to be a distant, vacuous concept instead of a present, glorious reality. I don’t actively go out and look for conflict; in fact, I greatly dislike conflict. However, I don’t actively go and attempt to be at peace with everyone, either. It leaves me in the middle of the two extremes.
Being in the middle of two extremes, say like, hot and cold, leaves me lukewarm, and the Bible is explicit in its condemnation of lukewarmness. Revelation 3:16 puts it this way:
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
We are rejected if lukewarm. We must be actively attempting to live at peace with everyone, even our enemies. Matthew 5:43-44 tells us:
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Verses 46 and 47 explain why:
46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?47And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Yes, we are no better than the pagans if we do not strive to live in peace both with those who love us and those who hate us. What is a man who lacks patience and mercy, and therefore is sorely lacking in peace, to do?
We are commanded in the final verse of Matthew 5 to “be perfect…as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Right. We know that we will fail sometimes, but we are to continuously strive to be peaceful with everyone. When we fail, God’s mercy will cover that failure and allow us to move on.
Displaying peace to others starts with having peace internally. It begins with us striving to get closer to God so that we are more apt to respond to those around us instead of react. Response involves processing and understanding. We have to see others through God’s eyes, to see potential and possibility, not failure and uselessness. It is wrong to ascribe these values to others, as we cannot see into their heart. We can only assume that if they lash out at us, they are simply lacking or not feeling the love of others and of God. We must love them to be at peace with them.
This is all hard. We don’t like it when people don’t like us. We all have a fundamental need to be loved and accepted. Countering hatred with love could cost us, physically, emotionally, and mentally. We have to remember that God is there and that he wants everyone, even the person who hates us, to be saved. It’s hard to see it that way, but the more we try, the easier it will get.
Lord, help me to be open to your peace, exercise patience and mercy toward others, and truly love them so that I can live at peace with everyone.
Thanks for reading!
Featured Image: Photo by Colton Duke on Unsplash