This post is part of a 40-Day Prayer Journey through the season of Lent. Click here to learn more and read other posts in the series.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
What does it mean to be a peacemaker?
In his commentary on the gospel of Matthew in The People’s Bible® series, Pastor G. Jerome Albrecht gave this helpful answer:
Peacemakers do not just passively sit back and refrain from starting trouble. They actively strive to make peace where there is enmity or hostility. They offer their services as mediators between warring nations or quarreling relatives or hostile neighbors. Insofar as possible, they strive to live in peace with all people (Hebrews 12:14), but they are also ready to contend for God’s truth and justice when circumstances require it. Although peace is always desirable, peace at any price is not acceptable. Even Jesus said that his gospel would disrupt peace when some accept it and others reject it. His gospel is the issue that often divides families, as well as larger groups of people. (pp. 66-67)
As Christians, we are peacemakers.
That’s who and what we are because of our Savior Jesus. We have peace with our heavenly Father because of Jesus. We want to share the knowledge of that peace with the people in our lives, pointing them to what Jesus has done for them.
We might not mediate between warring nations, but perhaps we might have opportunities to do so for quarreling relatives or hostile neighbors—perhaps for those quarreling with us or hostile to us because of the truths we confess as God’s children, which are contrary to how they live their lives.
Living as peacemakers is easy to define . . . but it can be hard to actually do.
As sinful people, we’d much rather passively sit back and refrain from starting trouble, stirring the pot, and rocking the proverbial boat. That seems far safer, far more comfortable—but we’d be ignoring the desperate need of the people in our lives to know both their need for a Savior from sin and also what that Savior, Jesus, did to rescue them from sin.
As Christians, we’re called to leave our comfort zones. But as we do, we would be wise to consider how we seek to make peace with the people in our lives. It’s not just what we say (the law and gospel); it’s the way we say it (coming from a fellow sinner in need of a Savior and a place of love for that person).
Yes, the gospel message disrupts peace and divides families, friends, and nations. But as we communicate the gospel message—as we attempt to live as peacemakers in this sin-darkened world—our goal is still to do so peaceably, respectfully, and lovingly. As far as it depends on us, that’s our goal—to continue reflecting the love of our Savior Jesus to others while holding unswervingly to the truths in his Word.
God promises that as we do, his peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Today as you pray, ask that God would continue to empower his people to be peacemakers; to live at peace with others, as it depends on them; and to point others to the peace with God that Jesus won for them and the world, through his perfect life, innocent death, and triumphant resurrection.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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