Peace-making Vs. Peace-keeping

Peace-making Vs. Peace-Keeping

Over the last few months, I have been looking at the state of the world. There is just a lot of turmoil around the world-Wars, Disasters, Protests, Shootings, Revolutions etc. So, I asked the question, where is the peace?

This question drives me to consider and ponder what my biblical response should be. So, I am led to one central response as it relates to Peace. God is calling us to make peace and not just keep peace. There are so many peace-keeping forces around the world, whether it is the UN or NATO but true peace can only come through the person of Christ. As I have travelled through parts of the Middle-East , there is one common tread in people minds, that is peace.

Peace can't be produced through human efforts. If the prince of peace(Jesus Christ-Isaiah 9:6) doesn't live in our hearts we can never have peace nor make peace. If we have Christ in our hearts we are to enter every arena of society and bring the peace of God through a "Gospel Lifestyle". Christians(True Followers of Christ) should be the one to make peace in society. InMatthew 5:9 Jesus proclaims on the sermon on the mount "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." When the peace of God has invaded every aspect of our being then whatever we touch we will bring the peace of God that surpasses all understand. It is important to note that when God talks about peace, it doesn't mean that all conflicts will vanish from the earth but the promise is that in the middle of chaos there will peace that invades us and surrounds us(John 14:27).

As I close out this blog entry, there are 2 important points we have to remember if we are to be conduits of peace:

1. True Peace comes from God(Job 22:21, 2 Thess. 3:16, Psalm 85:8, Romans 15:13)

2. We have to purse peace; peace is not a given(Hebrews 12:14)

-seyi ola