In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us of the reward for creating harmony between people.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9), He says in the seventh Beatitude, one of eight blessings in Jesus’ first sermon.

What could honour us more than for God to call us His own children?

No Peace of Cake

There are peacekeepers and peacemakers.

Peacekeepers like to maintain peace. They go to great lengths, even make compromises, to ensure no one “rocks the boat.”

Jesus didn’t praise those who simply make sure the kids don’t fight when Mom or Dad’s back is turned.

Jesus did, however, commend peacemakers.

According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a peacemaker is “one who makes peace, especially by reconciling parties at variance.” Peacemakers bring opposing sides together. They long for harmony to reign, even if the process of making peace proves uncomfortable.

We think highly of people who arrange meetings between warring factions to help them harmonize with each other. We award such people much-deserved trophies, parades and accolades.

And we should honour them because making peace is no piece of cake.

Reaping the Harvest

Several decades ago, my friend Kathy and I developed a difference of opinion about a certain Bible teacher. That difference caused an unspoken chasm between us.

Bev, a mutual friend, noticed the tension and stepped in to help reconcile us. She sat us down in comfy chairs in her living room and asked each of us to share our viewpoint, and why we felt offended and hurt by the other.

At the end of that meeting, Kathy and I apologized for our unloving attitudes and shed tears of repentance. To this day, we remain close friends. All because Bev was willing to step between us and make peace.

She didn’t choose sides. She listened to both viewpoints without judgment and gently asked questions that helped us discover the root of our conflict. She sowed the seeds of peace that “reap a harvest of righteousness” James talks about (see James 3:18).

Finding Peace

Jesus was the greatest peacemaker in history. He didn’t passively sit by and observe the sin that had caused humankind to become God’s enemies (see Romans 5:10). Jesus stepped in between us and God to buy our freedom from sin with His own life.

When we turn from our sins and turn to Jesus, we find God’s unconditional forgiveness and peace.

When we tell others about salvation, we’re following Jesus’ example of making harmony between God and people. We’re inviting individuals to find the peace that only God can give.

This is the seventh article in our series on the Beatitudes, key teachings from the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5-7), Jesus’ first sermon during His earthly ministry. Read the sixth article at Blessed Are the Pure in Heart - Salvation Army Canada.

Photo: FS-Stock/stock.Adobe.com

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