June 24: PEACEMAKERS BRING HEALING

Bringing people together or causing people to separate? Creating an “us versus them” mentality or creating an “us and us” outlook? Which describes you? The forces of “division” are hard at work around the world: philosophy against philosophy, religion against religion, culture against culture, race against race, political theory against political theory; too much finger-pointing! Too many threats!
That’s why there is an urgent need for peacemakers. Peacemakers bring people together. Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) Why? Because they are emulating their Heavenly Father in doing what He is doing. Listen: “for he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man of two, thus making peace.” (Ephesians 2:14-15)
No more finger-pointing and affixing blame; that is divisive, it promotes that “us versus them” mentality. There is enough blame to go around if each of us were to accept our share of responsibility for the mess in the world. I want to be a part of working for a oneness of purpose that will help people. “Red” or “blue” are too simplistic to describe people made in the image of God. That’s worse than “white” or “black”.
As Christians, we are given the task of mediation, of bringing people together. Read this challenge in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19: “All of this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. And he has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.”
At every level of our life experience we must work to reconcile folks with God and one another. An old song says: “love can build a bridge between your heart and mine; don’t you think it’s time?”

“O God of Peace, make us instruments of Your peace; the world is hurting
so very much from the divisions made by prejudice and hatred. Amen”