Peacemaker part 4
You can't make peace unless you have peace. That's what I was trying to say yesterday. Because, as always, you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. And here's the thing: We're effected by other people. We feed off of each other. If someone's running around like a chicken with their head cut off one of two things will probably happen. Either we'll get caught up in what they're doing (like a thermometer that takes the temperature of the room), or we'll be able to help them (like a thermostat that sets the temperature). And the important thing to remember here is that the fire in you is ALWAYS hotter than the fire you're in. What you've got is all-powerful. Because what you've got is love. Love is the trump card, if I can say it that way. Love wins. So while it IS appropriate to empathize with people... "Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15 NLT)... the old saying goes, "I'll visit you at the bottom of the valley, but I won't make my home there." I think the we go through things for two reasons: 1. To learn and grow. 2. To be able to help others through the same things we've been through. So while it is appropriate to empathize with people, I think that connection is the launch pad to be able to then edify people. To say, "I'm right here with you... now let's go higher. Upward and God-ward." If someone's sad, let them be sad. I think this is going to be my next Rant series, and I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. But its ok to feel what you feel. Just don't let your emotions control you. Because love is not an emotion, as such. Love is a decision. A commitment. Love is when you count the cost and still give everything you have and everything you are no matter what. Love is not that fuzzy feeling you get when things are going good. Love is, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." And, as always, I'm not saying you should ever put yourself into, or stay in, a bad situation. I'm saying that even if someone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off... you can be still and know that He is God. You can be still and know that God is love. And you can let what's inside come out instead of letting what's outside fill you up. You're already full of it. You have already been given everything you will ever need. That happened when God gave the world His only begotten Son. Because He didn't want us to perish. He wanted us to have peace. Let me say it another way: "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). We have a High Priest who has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt. He knows what we're going through. And because He has already overcome it (and because He lives in us, and through us, and as us) WE have already overcome it. That inner peace is what equips and empowers us to go through things instead of letting things go through us (and wreck us). And once we understand that we've been through it and survived... that's when we can help other people get through it. That's when we can say, "I'm right here with you. I've been where you're at. I know the way." That's when we can make peace out of any situation. Because we HAVE peace. Because we are peacemakers. And that's how people will be able to identify us as the Son(s) of God!