Go In Peace
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. – Matthew 5:9.
Have you ever found it hard to be a peacemaker? It is hard to bring peace to a situation when those involved have no desire for peace. A phrase we hear frequently is, “Can’t we all just get along?” The problem is that some people do not want to “get along.” In fact, there are some people who delight in causing trouble and creating chaos (The same is true of some countries.). I was reminded of this over the past few days while trying to bring peace to a family situation.
It is obviously God’s will in most instances for us to be peacemakers. In our lives, we are to go forward in peace. In Mark 5:34 Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. GO IN PEACE, and be healed of your affliction.” In Luke 7:50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. GO IN PEACE.” In Luke 8:48 Jesus said, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. GO IN PEACE.” In John 14:27 Jesus says, “PEACE I leave with you, My PEACE I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” In John 16:33 Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have PEACE. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
How can you make peace when others desire the opposite? First an understanding of the word “peace” is necessary. In the Bible, the concept of peace is more than an absence of strife and hostility. The word used for peace means in part “to be sound” or “to be complete.” It carries the meaning of being “whole” and “to live well.” Here we have some clues for being a peacemaker. For the Christian “to live well” it is necessary for us to live like Jesus.
When we encounter the hostility of the world let us respond as Jesus would respond. We are to “go in peace.” In other words, we are to live well our lives following the example of Jesus. Jesus gives us the example and the instruction of turning the other cheek (Luke 6:29) and of whatever you want men to do to you, doing also to them (Matthew 7:12). In the midst of the strife of the world, we must “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).” When it seems impossible to be a peacemaker, we remember Jesus said, “men always ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).”
Let us “go in peace.”
(When Jesus tells people to go in peace He has more in mind than the absence of strife and hostility.)