In Ephesians chapter 2, we find some wonderful statements about our Lord. Beginning in verse 14; “he is our peace”, “so making peace”, “came and preached peace”. Peace with God is made possible for mankind by the sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross. You can read about this in Ephesians 2. By accepting our Savior we make peace with God and then we can enjoy the peace of God. Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Ruffner said, “Good men love peace, pray for it, seek it, pursue it, will give anything but a good conscience for it.” Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers…” Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men,…” James 3:17, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable…” James 3:18, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

Live peaceably. Follow peace. Peaceable.

Them that make peace. Peacemakers.

This is a great experience, but not always possible. David said in Psalm 120:6-7, “My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.” “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.” Spurgeon wrote, “My kindest words appear to provoke them, and they are at daggers drawn at once. Nothing pleases them.” We all know someone like that and maybe even have been someone like that. Console yourself with the fact that both David and David’s Lord endured the same trial without becoming bitter. David’s son Absalom wanted to destroy his father and take the crown and the kingdom. It is ironic that David named him Absalom which means “peacemaker”. What a disappointment he was to David and yet David never stopped loving him. David wept at his son’s death and cried, “O Absalom, would God I had died for thee.” Jesus was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” and yet He said “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”. He never became bitter, He never stopped loving those who crucified Him.

Someone said, “Peace is not made with friends. Peace is made with enemies.” Thank God when we were enemies, (read Ephesians 2) Jesus made peace with the blood of the cross.

Do you wish to be like God? Arthur Balfour wrote, “The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to your father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”

“All men desire peace, but very few desire those things that make for peace.”
Thomas A Kempis

“Five great enemies to peace: greed, ambition, envy, anger and pride.”
Petrarch

“For most men the world is centered in self, which is misery: to have one’s world centered in God is peace.”
Donald Hankey

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!