Peace, Man!

"If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." - Romans 12:18

"Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." - Hebrews 12:14

"Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." - Psalms 34:13-14

Okay, so we're going to shift gears, somewhat, today and look at peace from a different standpoint. Paul says in Romans "...as far as it depends on YOU, be at peace with ALL men." The area in which this gets really hard is when we don't necessarily like the person we are dealing with... Oh the times I have had to exercise extreme patience with a customer at my workplace! How much easier it would be to simply let them know how I feel about them! Of course, as you can imagine, this would most likely put me at odds with them and probably also at odds with my boss.... not a good place to be. Therefore living at peace with others "... as much as it depends on you..." means that we must plead with God to give us a humility and forgiving spirit that overlooks the petty things in life. Peace means a deliberate overlooking of people's faults against us and instead showing the love and forgiveness of Christ. It means that we don't make a big deal over the little things that come up between us and a friend or a neighbor... "as much as it depends on YOU..."
I'm going to keep quoting it and hopefully it will eventually sink in, not only for you, but for me as well! Friends, I struggle with living at peace with my family sometimes... does that one hit home with anybody else? How often are we quick to point out what our husband or wife, brother or sister is doing wrong? And I don't mean in a gentle restoring way, either... I mean, we just lay into them about how they're going about life in the wrong way! Is this our attempt at living in peace and modeling Christ-like behavior?
For some of us this will take more effort than others... some of you may be, naturally, less out-spoken about being wronged or slighted, but this doesn't let you off the hook. Examine yourselves! What does your HEART think about that person who has wronged you? Have you murdered them in word or thought? Or have you made peace with them before God and asked that He would restore your relationship? This is the key to living at peace with others.... continually coming before God, on a daily basis, and pleading for His mercy and peace to reside within you and to spill over onto everyone whom you come into contact with.
Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians: "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1:10) Is he saying that we should strive for a one-world nation and universal peace? I think not! He is talking to a church that had issues dealing with strife among the believers! That is why he says "brethren..." he is speaking directly to those who are calling themselves followers of Christ, in relation to fellow believers. You cannot be of the same mind as, say, an atheist or a homosexual... for "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" Romans 6:2b We cannot be, both, of the world and of Christ...
Paul goes on, in 1 Corinthians, to say "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" (3:2-3) Strife is the absence of peaceful living. There were men and women causing strife among the other believers in the Corinthian church... spreading rumors, stirring up dissension...
These are not the things of God!

Friends... the application and exhortation for today is "Examine Yourself!" I have nothing else to say... If we don't learn to live at peace with those whom we call brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are putting ourselves at odds with the body of Christ! If there is one party you do NOT want to be at odds with, it is the body of Christ. Look at what Paul says a little further down in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians... "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are." (3:16-17) The church is holy unto the Lord... and he who would seek to destroy it through strife and dissensions... his future is not one of good prospect! This verse has much more to say than I could possibly hope to get into today... perhaps at another time and on another day... but for now, I again implore you to search your heart and plead with God to give you a peacemaker's spirit. Don't be found guilty of strife on the day of judgement, but rather strive to hear these words of our Father: "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Spend some time in prayer, a lot of time in prayer! Ask God to make you the peacemaker that He created you to be. Meditate on these things and apply them, and know that I am right beside you... making these very same petitions. I am not asking you to do something that I myself am not going to do! I do not seek to be a hypocrite by proclaiming the Word of God and then living in the ways of the world. I too must strive for holiness in all things. Please join me, this day, in becoming a peacemaker.

Grace and Peace!

Questions? Comments? Please e-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com . Or you can leave a comment right here, at the end of this post! Thanks!