Peacemakers (part 2)

Call To Prayer 

Title: Peacemakers (part 2) 

Date: 14/11/2022 

By: Njuacha Hubert 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” Mathew 5:9 

Today I will continue to expatiate on the topic of Peacemakers. In the first part, I wrote last week, we saw that to begin the fulfillment of our call to be peacemakers we must start by receiving and holding dear the peace of Jesus; constantly giving up our worries in prayers. Because how can we talk of peacemaking if there is no peace within us in the first place? Oh, are you perhaps surprised I just said above “our call to be peacemakers”? Isn’t this obvious since Christ our role model is the prince of peace? (Isaiah 9:6).  2 Corinthians 5: 18 says:  “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:”  The ministry of reconciliation… is that not the ministry of peace-making.? Galatian 3:36 says:  “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith”. 

Now let’s look at this. Mathew 5:9 says peacemakers are children of God and Galatians 3:36 says we who believe in Jesus Christ have become children of God. If you connect these two, you see that it means if you have truly accepted Jesus Christ, then you are a child of God and a child of God is expected to manifest as a peacemaker. Therefore, every Christian ought to be a peacemaker reflecting their master Jesus Christ.  

Romans 12:18 says:  

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” 

Here we still see the call to our ministry of peace-making. This entails a lot of forgiveness and a lot of apologies.  In fact, one of our slogans should be “I am sorry”. Again, this ministry of peace-making is so important to God that He says: 

“… if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”(Mathew 5:23-24).

So imagine, if it pleases God that you go to that extent to apologize then we should try to apologize as early as possible. It is good you apologize for your own wrong (and even when you think you are not wrong) before you can complain about a wrong against you. Then you have already set a pace for reconciliation by first reducing the tension in the air. This takes humility with understanding. When Jesus’s apostles were arguing about who is the greatest among themselves, Jesus replied: 

“It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,”( Mathew 20:26). Apologising for the sake of peace may make you feel small but reject that feeling and remember it is because you are actually greater. To whom more is given more is expected. (Luke 12:48). Next week we shall talk on more practical steps to peace-making from the scriptures.

Prayer Point:  

Let’s thank God for sending His son Jesus to reconcile us to Him. Let’s pray for the grace to quickly apologise for the sake of peace.