“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9 CSB
The Greek word for peacemakers in this verse is eirenopoios. According to the Hebrew/Greek Bible I use, it is the only place it is found in the entire Bible. It means an ambassador who comes to bring peace. Did you ever consider yourself an ambassador? How about an ambassador of peace? That is what you are when you become a follower of Jesus, an ambassador of peace.
Paul tells us in his letters to the Romans that we are to live at peace with everyone to the best of our ability (12:18 NIV). How do we do that? There are some people that just love to stir up trouble. No matter what you do, they will argue with you. If you say the sky is blue, they will argue it is purple. How do you live at peace with them? How about the person who cuts you off in traffic? Or the relative that always brings the drama to the family gatherings? What about the co-worker who sits at the desk next to you and chomps on her bubble gum? Or the volunteer that commits to everything but never shows up when they are supposed too? There are myriads of ways people are annoying. I have been told, many a times by different people, if God knew so and so like I do, would He really expect me to love them? The answer is alway yes. Resoundingly so!
So how do we live at peace with everyone? We share our fruit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
No matter how contentious a person is, they cannot argue with the fruit of the Spirit. If they want to believe the sky is purple, in love let them. Maybe it is to them, maybe their eyesight is different than yours. Maybe when they look at it, it really is purple. Love them anyway. The guy who cuts you off in traffic, use self-control instead of sign language. That family member who always gets on your last nerve, practice forbearance. The co-worker who chomps their gum, pray for noise cancelling headphones and show them joy. The volunteer who never shows up, greet them with kindness when they finally do. Against such things there is no law, and it will always bring you peace.
