PEACEMAKERS: CHILDREN OF GOD

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the children of God.”
(Matthew 5:9)

MEDITATION:
When Jesus says,
    “Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they shall be called the children of God”
He does not tell us how to become a son of God.
He simply says that sons of God are in fact peacemakers.

People who are peacemakers will be recognized as the sons
of God at the judgment; they will be called what they are
and welcomed into the Father’s house.

What Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:9 is:
    people who have become children of God
    have the character of their heavenly Father.

We know from Scripture the “sons of God”
have a heavenly Father who is a “God of peace”.
    “The God of peace….”
      (Romans 16:20)

    “May God himself, the God of peace….”
     (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

    “Now may the God of peace….”
      (Hebrews 13:20)

We know that heaven is a world of peace.
    “Blessed is the king who comes in the name
      of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in
      the highest!” (Luke 19:38)

And most important of all, we know that God is a peacemaker!
God is a peace-loving God, and a peacemaking God.

Redemption, (climaxing in the death and resurrection of Jesus)
is God’s strategy to bring about a just and lasting peace between
rebel man and Himself, and then peace between man and man.

Therefore, God’s children are to be that way, too. They have
the character of their Father. What He loves they love. What
He pursues they pursue. You can know His children by the
way they are willing to make sacrifices for peace the way God
did.

By the sovereign work of God’s grace, rebel human beings
are born again, and brought from rebellion into faith, and
made into children of God.

We were given a new nature,
after the image of our heavenly Father.
    “No one who is born of God will continue to sin,
      because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot
      go on sinning, because they have been born of God.”
      (1 John 3:9)

If He is a peacemaker, then His children,
who have His nature, will be peacemakers too.

In Galatians Paul says,
    “Since we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of
      his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
      (Galatians 4:6)

And in Romans he says,
    “For those who are led by the Spirit
      of God are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14)

Being led by the Spirit includes bearing the fruit
of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is peace!

We see why it is true, that the children of God must be peacemakers.
It is by the Spirit of God that we are made children of God, and the
Spirit of God is the Spirit of peace. If we are not peacemakers, we
are not led by the Spirit of Christ. If we are not led by the Spirit,
then the Spirit is missing in our lives.

The scriptures tell us,
    “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone
      and to be holy; without holiness no one will see
      the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

ACTION:
Are there conflicts which you can resolve by becoming a peacemaker?
Be known as a ‘child of God’ by being a ‘peacemaker’.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to identify areas in my life
and attitudes where I am failing in my efforts to become
a ‘son of God’. Help me to increase my self-control so
that frustrations and anger will not cause me to be the
opposite of a ‘peacemaker’. Remind me that if I claim
to be a follower of Jesus, then I need to mimic His ability
to be a peacemaker. Teach me to focus more on being
peaceful and less on being selfish and self-centered.
Thank You, Jesus for setting the example for me to
follow regarding peace and peacemaking.”