By Angel Diane
”Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.“ Matthew 5:9 NIV
I experienced becoming a “peacemaker as a trauma coping mechanism” at an incredibly early age. As far back as can remember as I have projected the exhaustive task of keeping everyone around me at peace, so that I, in turn, could experience peace within myself.
At nine years old, I surrendered my heart and soul to Jesus Christ, whom I was told was the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and that He says that I would be blessed if I were a “peacemaker” (Matthew 5:9).
As I grew in my faith, I continued to give every ounce of my efforts to make sure that each person I met, understood that they could have peace in their hearts 24/7 with Jesus Christ as their Savior.
At times it has been extremely difficult to convince people that Jesus is the answer to true peace. So, I often would succumb to my learned behavior of making sure that I was at peace with that person myself.
In hopes that they might see Jesus in me as “peaceful” and somehow make the correlation that He is the answer. After all Romans 12:8 does say, “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
But over the years I have found it increasingly hard to keep the peace with those who continually project trauma and reject the truth of God. I must admit, at times it has even been detrimental to my own faith to be around them.
Yesterday, as I was in deep prayer about this, the Holy Spirit quickened this thought in me…
Jesus did not come to make peace between me and others, He came to give me a chance to make peace with His Father, the God who created me.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:34 NKJV, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”
I honestly believe that when we choose to align ourselves in peace with the one true God…we will arouse the opposition of anyone who does not walk in peace with God.
But to experience peace within our own souls, we must let go of our insatiable need to have peace with others and realize Jesus came with a “sword” (the Word) to help us cut off those weights that hold us captive.
We may never be at perfect peace with all men, but we can make perfect peace between ourselves and God. Jesus said that is the blessing; when we make peace between ourselves and God, we are called “sons of God” and that makes us a “peacemaker.”
Today, I challenge you and myself to look at our relationships and make sure that we are not putting more importance on having peace with an earthly person than we are on having peace with our maker.

Comments