ICS Daily Devotions
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
Romans 5:3-5 (NKJV) And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The good, the bad and the ugly in us will surface when we are faced with a difficult situation. God allows us to go through it so that our character will be moulded. The good news is we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to love with God’s love when it is difficult to love.
We love because God first loved us. We won’t be able to love people if we base it on phileo love because it is a conditional love. Phileo love means “I will love you if you love me”. It will be difficult to love with phileo love because we live in a fallen and imperfect world, so people will fail and disappoint us. We will also fail and disappoint others due to the weakness of the flesh; believers too are subject to the same weakness!
Matthew 5:9 (NKJV) Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
One of the many things that sets us apart from the world as children of God is the ability to be a peacemaker in the midst of strife, contention and division.
We are able to love because we have the agape love residing inside us. The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts and therefore, God’s kind of love will be poured out of our hearts to the people around us. We will have the ability to extend grace when needed and find that we are able to love better with His love. Our character will be moulded when we persevere and choose to be peacemakers even with difficult interpersonal relationships. It is godly to choose love over retaliation.
We will not be able to play the role of peacemakers until we have fully grasped the biblical truth of how Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker between God and us. God did not wait for us to be perfect before He sent His Son Jesus to redeem us from our sins. In fact, God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn’t wait for us to change, He didn’t wait for us to be worthy of His love and He didn’t wait for us to suffer enough for our sins. He pursued us with His love and established peace with us. We should and need to do likewise for our loved ones and those whom God has placed in our midst.
Since we are made in the image of God, we are able to act as peacemakers and initiate peace-making. The new creation in our spirit being has the nature of God. We are to put on the “new man” by constantly reminding ourselves that we are new creations. We have risen to a new life in Christ and we choose to live for Him. We are no longer dictated by our emotions and self-centredness. We are no longer slaves of sin but slaves of righteousness. We are the children of light. Blessed are the peacemakers.
Sermon Series: Peacemaker
