A few days ago while driving home from work I was reminded how important it is to seek peace with those around us. A car had turned and merged into my lane in front of me. On the back window of the car was written a memorial to a young man who only lived 17 years. I knew the young man. He was one of my students who was killed in a drive-by gang shooting. Tragically he wasn’t even a gang member. That night my daughter invited my wife and I to see the movie, “Just Mercy.” It’s a gripping true story that took place 30 years ago in Alabama about the struggles of an innocent black man wrongfully sentenced to death for the murder of a white woman which he did not commit. A young lawyer took up his case and that of many others as he tried to pursue justice and peace in a racially divided community. Sadly we live with a flawed judicial system and in a broken world riddled with hatred, division, and evil. But there is hope in God. He alone brings lasting change from the inside out to enable people to do what’s right and to treat each other with love and grace.
God’s hope and the answer to our depravity is Jesus. He is the prince of peace, God the Son who became a man to show us how to live in harmony with God and with each other. As we trust and obey him he enables us to do it, because we cannot save ourselves. Life with God is different than our way of doing things in this world. We tend to do things based on our self-interest. God does things based on the welfare of others. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 that living with God involves being humble, empathetic, meek, just, merciful, pure in heart, loyal, and makers of peace.
He goes on to describe the need to live as an example for others to follow, to live in a way that leads people out of darkness and into the light, to live in a way that accents and preserves what is good and right, and to live in a way that helps people become all that God designed for them to be. This way seeks forgiveness and reconciliation instead of anger, hatred, malice, and revenge. It involves giving of ourselves and making sacrifices so that we put God’s interests and the interests of others before our own. It requires loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us or offend us. In short, it means being pure in character and thought, comprehensive in action, and dedicated to God and then others. Jesus knows we can’t do this by ourselves. Yet he never calls us to do something that he doesn’t enable us to do. We can be holy as he is holy when we trust and obey him to do it in us and through us.
A fundamental virtue in living God’s way is peace. As I mentioned Jesus is the prince of peace. His life, death, and resurrection on our behalf brings peace between God and whoever trusts Jesus to save them. When Jesus came down from heaven and was born as a man on earth the angels proclaimed to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men” (Luke 2:14). The apostle Paul wrote of Jesus’ mission to save not only Jews, but also people from every nation so we can all be one with God, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:13-18).
Likewise followers of Jesus must lay down their lives by God’s grace and power in order to be vessels for God to pour out his peace in and through them to others. Paul gave some practical examples of doing this, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:9-21). Out of love for God Francis Bernardone from Assisi, Italy desired to live this way. He prayed,
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Are you a peacemaker? Is there anyone you need to make peace with now? Tomorrow we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. for his role in trying to bring justice and peace where there was inequality, oppression, and strife. We should do the same. As each of us seeks peace, it can help keep others from dying spiritually and possibly even physically. Maybe you need to be more humble or gentle, or patient. Maybe you need to bear with other people and pursue unity rather than settling for division. Maybe you need to let go of bitterness or resentment and forgive instead. Maybe you’ve offended someone and need to apologize. Maybe you’ve done wrong and need to make it right. Pray about it like David did and let God show you how to take the next step, even though it may be hard. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). As you trust God to help you make peace, he imparts his peace. “You [God] will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3). “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).