Peacemaker part 5
I've been purposefully neglecting part of our key verse for this Rant series, because I knew I wanted to focus on it today to wrap the thing up. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9). And its that first word that I want to focus on. "Blessed." It's number 3107 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "supremely blest; by extension fortunate, well off: - blessed, happy." And the part I like best about that definition is the last word. "Happy." Happy because we are bringing (or making) peace to a chaotic situation... and happy because we are called (or identified as) the Son(s) of God. Hard to be more well off than that. There's a sign at work that says, "the reward of a job well done is in the doing." And I see it every day. And I think, every day, "that's what love is all about." Love isn't about how someone reacts to what you do. If you're trying to get a reaction, then its not love at all. Because love is never about getting anything. Because love is giving. But when it comes to making peace there IS a reaction. Peace. A de-escalation in many cases. Remember how we've been talking about the two results to pushing someone? Either they push back, or they fall over. And neither of those is probably what you really want. Maybe in that moment of emotion, or anger, you want to do some damage. But that's not love. Love isn't an emotional response. Love is decision. Choosing to break the cycle. Choosing to turn the other cheek. Choosing to be a thermostat (and set the temperature) instead of being a thermometer (and merely take the temperature). And while the point of making peace is to reveal things in divine order, this happiness that goes with it is a pretty awesome... let's call it icing, on the cake. For a lot of my life there were three of us. My older brother, me, and my younger brother. And you know how that goes. The oldest is the practice child. The youngest is the baby. And the middle child is the peacemaker. The one who, at least in my lingo, says, "Save the drama for your mama." Because I wanted a calm house. That's what made me happy. Still does. So I get this fringe benefit of being extremely fortunate, AND I get to be an improvement to other people's lives. Almost like when Jesus said He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. As Son(s) of God we are in a position to help others have it better. I mean, we are blessed to be a blessing, right? In order to live out of our abundance we must HAVE abundance. You can't give what you don't have, right? So if you're giving peace, making peace, that means you HAVE peace. Otherwise you couldn't give it, or make it. Let me drop one more memory verse to close this out: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace" (Psalm 37:37). That man is Jesus. And as He is, so are we in this world. When we understand who He is, we understand who we are. And the end of that perfect man is peace. Knowing who you really are is really peaceful. Because you don't have to try to be someone you're not in order to get something you think you haven't got. You know who you are. You know what you've got. Peace flows out of you and you are extremely, completely blessed!