City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:9

⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:44-45 (NASB)

¹⁴ But Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and do not forbid them to come to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 

Matthew 19:14 (NASB)

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:18 (NASB)

Reflection

LAERTES: “So you will not o’errule me to a peace.”

KING CLAUDIUS: “To thine own peace.”

William Shakespeare – “Hamlet” Act IV Scene VII

“You Can Get Much Further with a Kind Word and a Gun than with a Kind Word Alone”

Al Capone, or Irwin Corey, Or Robert De Niro, or…

“As long as the world is as it is, and there are those who recognize the need to protect innocence, there will be war.”

P. S. Lane

After thinking about the task of the peacemaker, I have come to realize that this is possibly the hardest of the beatitudes.  To do this the peacemaker must not only have peace within their heart, but they must also conduct themselves in such a way that peace is communicated and imparted to others.  So, you have not succeeded if the peace is not taken in.  Results matter if you want to claim that you have made peace. 

We see in the snippet from Hamlet, that the evil King Claudius rejects the responsibility for making peace in the heart of Laertes.  Hamlet killed his father, so it is understandable that he would not want that responsibility.

Then there is the peace that can exist on either side of a gun.  There is peace that comes from submission and then peace that comes from victory.  As Christians we naturally tend to think of peace through submission, given that we need to learn to submit our will to Christ so that we may grow.  Peace through victory sounds like something you might hear at a political rally, or in a war movie.  But that means that Christians should not participate in the protection of the innocent.  Or what is a Christian to do if ordered to war by the authorities that they are told that they are to obey?

The book of Job teaches us that God rules this world based on justice, but the fallenness of this world makes it difficult for us to understand how that justice works.  So, bad things happen to good people for reasons we do not or can not understand.  But we must do the best we can with the best understanding we can achieve.  And in this we find ourselves working out our salvation before God and becoming His children.  Thus, peace between God and man is made.

Application

Start with yourself. 

Prayer

Lord, I admit that I am a sinner and that I can not save myself.  I have sinned against You in thought word and deed, by what I have done and by what I have left undone.  I have not loved You with all my heart.  I have not loved my neighbor as myself.  Lord, forgive me, restore me, and change me into Your image, that I might be a peacemaker in all that I do.  In the loving name of Jesus Christ Your son.  Amen.