40 Days of PEACE
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of PEACE
Day 22 | BE A PEACEMAKER | Matthew 5:9
40 Days of PEACE
Day 22 | BE A PEACEMAKER | Matthew 5:9
BE A PEACEMAKER
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
In Matthew chapters 5-7, we have the longest recorded sermon that Jesus gave… the amazing “Sermon the Mount.”
In this verse, we are not being taught to BE peaceful, but to help OTHERS become peaceful. That might mean that we should be willing – as the Lord leads – to step-in in a family quarrel, a workplace dispute, or something similar. You see, 2 Corinthians 5 teaches us that the LORD has given us the “ministry of reconciliation.”
But as Charles Spurgeon points out: “The verse which precedes it speaks of the blessedness of ‘the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ It is well that we should understand this. We are to be ‘first pure, then peaceable.’ Our peaceableness is never to be a compact with sin or an alliance with that which is evil. We must set our faces like flints against everything which is contrary to God and his holiness. That being in our souls a settled matter, we can go on to peaceableness towards men.”
It could also be that this verse applies to us when we share the Good News (the Gospel) with those who don’t know the LORD yet and are not at PEACE with Almighty God.
Today, there seems more upset in the world than I can ever remember. Perhaps that means that more “peacemakers” are needed.
Again, we need to move ahead as HE leads, but it is clear that the LORD Jesus in this sermon was encouraging and even looking for those who would take on the task of being “peacemakers” in the world then. And as was said, we NEED them today too.
Prayer: LORD, I’m willing to step in as You lead. Show me who, when, where, and how. “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.” Amen.
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
In Matthew chapters 5-7, we have the longest recorded sermon that Jesus gave… the amazing “Sermon the Mount.”
In this verse, we are not being taught to BE peaceful, but to help OTHERS become peaceful. That might mean that we should be willing – as the Lord leads – to step-in in a family quarrel, a workplace dispute, or something similar. You see, 2 Corinthians 5 teaches us that the LORD has given us the “ministry of reconciliation.”
But as Charles Spurgeon points out: “The verse which precedes it speaks of the blessedness of ‘the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ It is well that we should understand this. We are to be ‘first pure, then peaceable.’ Our peaceableness is never to be a compact with sin or an alliance with that which is evil. We must set our faces like flints against everything which is contrary to God and his holiness. That being in our souls a settled matter, we can go on to peaceableness towards men.”
It could also be that this verse applies to us when we share the Good News (the Gospel) with those who don’t know the LORD yet and are not at PEACE with Almighty God.
Today, there seems more upset in the world than I can ever remember. Perhaps that means that more “peacemakers” are needed.
Again, we need to move ahead as HE leads, but it is clear that the LORD Jesus in this sermon was encouraging and even looking for those who would take on the task of being “peacemakers” in the world then. And as was said, we NEED them today too.
Prayer: LORD, I’m willing to step in as You lead. Show me who, when, where, and how. “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.” Amen.