My oldest daughter is a peacemaker. Her first grade teacher told me so.
And, it’s true. She seeks peace and strives for it. To have friends or family at odds with one another grieves her.
I mean, it really troubles her.
Like it should trouble me.
Because we are all meant to be peacemakers, aren’t we? After all, we follow the Prince of Peace.
As his people, we should be the ones building bridges, closing gaps, creating community, right?
But we don’t.
There are plenty of reasons.
Sometimes, we just want to “stay out of it.”
Other times, we want to let someone “cool off.”
Most of the time, we’re just a bit too prideful to promote peace.
And, that’s a problem because if there’s anything that a peacemaker has to be it’s humble.
Jesus made peace for us because he humbled himself, didn’t he? He bowed low and was obedient even to death to preach “peace to you who were far away and peace those who were near.” (Ephesians 2:17)
Is it easy to make peace? No. Most often not. It certainly wasn’t easy for him.
Still, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, for the joy set before him. (Hebrews 12:2)
And bringing peace can bring us joy, too.
After all, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9)
Proverbs 12:20 puts it this way:
“Those who promote peace have joy.”
It doesn’t get much plainer than that.
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