By Bob Bunn
I am what some might call “conflict averse.” In other words, I’ll walk a million miles out of my way to avoid a fight. Disagreements make me cringe. Friction causes my skin to crawl. Squabbles feel like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I just don’t like discord.
Of course, the older I get, the more I realize that avoiding conflict isn’t always healthy. So I’ve adapted, and, while it might take me a minute to muster up the courage, I can take a stand when necessary.
But I’ve also learned that so many of the “urgent” things that light people’s fires today aren’t worth the bother. You don’t have to look very long or very hard to see just how aggressive people can get over religion, politics, parenting, sports, streaming services, and dozens of other areas they consider hot topics.
We don’t live in a very peaceful world—which makes being a peacemaker all the more important.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus called His people to be peacemakers, to serve as rest areas on the hostile highways of life. Centuries before Rudyard Kipling, Jesus was challenging us to “keep your head when all about you others are losing theirs and blaming it on you.” It’s important to Him that the people who claim His name also imitate His character.
That’s what Jesus meant by His unique blessing on peacemakers: “they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Whether they like it or not, kids pick up stuff from their parents. Sometimes, it’s genetic, like the color of our eyes or freckles or the ability to roll our tongues. Other times, it’s environmental, such as traditions we observe, cliches we use, or activities we enjoy.
Either way, it’s impossible to escape parental influence. Kids mirror their parents. And Jesus said that He wants His kids—His spiritual offspring—to reflect Him to the world. That’s why He made such a big deal about being a peacemaker.
In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul urged his readers to “pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another” (Romans 14:19). In this context, the Greek word translated “pursue” carries a sense of aggression but not the kind of angry attitudes we see around us every day. On the contrary, this is a determination to chase down peace as hard and as fast as we can. It’s a holy pursuit because it makes us more like Jesus.
Rather than pretending conflict doesn’t exist, Jesus wants His people to pour themselves into the process of making peace. Admittedly, that’s not always easy. Some around us might not appreciate our attempts to bring peace into a chaotic circumstance. Then again, people in the first century didn’t always appreciate Jesus’s ministry as the Prince of Peace either.
But if we’re going to experience what it truly means to be sons and daughters of God, peacemaking is the path.
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