Day 20 of the 40 Days of Purpose

“Restoring Broken Fellowship”

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9)

I write this as my daughter prepares to study Hebrew and Arabic along with courses on the topic of conflict resolution at a university in Israel this year. The conflicts of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian religions are so much deeper than religion. It seems the layers cannot begin to be peeled away to reach the core needed to build productive relationships. Where should one begin?

I’m sure I over simplify, but the beginning of peace is within each of us and our relationship with our Creator. We all seek it, but we don’t all recognize it. There is a hunger within that wants peace, for all to be right within. But it can’t be right within, if we are not right with the one who put that desire within us so we would long a relationship with him, God. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapters one and two of the natural sense within man to know there is a god and desire to worship him and want to live in relationship with him through an inner sense of what is right and wrong. With this sense, or conscience, there is also the sense that one has not lived up to this natural standard and that God is displeased. Not all will identify these feelings or connect them to God, but they are there. Inside of all of us is a desire for peace as a freedom from guilt through a relationship with God. In Romans 5 the solution to this dilemma is given. God sent his Son into the world as our reconciler so that we could stop being the enemies of God subject to his wrath and become one of his children. We needed a peacemaker, and God sent one – Christ.

We need more peacemakers in the world. We also need more people who are at peace with themselves because they have made peace with God through Jesus. And those who have found that peace have a way of helping others make peace.