I have enjoyed studying faith and peace the last couple of weeks...I have also learned that it is a life-long study. Part of the responsibility of learning something new is to apply it to my every day life. As I have been studying and trying to figure out how to apply all of these things about peace, I ran across some scriptures in Romans:
Rom 14:16 Then do not let your good be spoken evil of,
Rom 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Rom 14:18 For he who serves Christ in these things is well-pleasing to God, and approved by men. Rom 14:19 So then let us pursue the things of peace, and the things for building up one another.
But what caught my attention is verse 19. In the King James Version, the same verse reads this way:
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Which make for peace...we can make peace? There are things which can make peace?
We know the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is not what we eat, what we dring, what we see, what we say, what we hear. Righteousness we can strive for everyday. We can live in the Word every day and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal areas of impurity in our hearts. Once they are revealed, we can then ask for the strength and wisdom of the Lord to work out of us those things that are not a part of Him. The things such as envy, greed, hatred, anger, unforgiveness, gossip, lust, and other sins hinder our walk with the Lord. They hinder our growth as sons and daughters of the King.
Heb 5:13 For everyone partaking of milk is unskillful in the Word of Righteousness, for he is an infant.
Heb 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, even those who because of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Unskillful in the word of Righteousness. Hmm...well, that is certainly an interesting phrase to me as well. Unskillful means inexperienced or ignorant. We must know how to use the Word of God and apply it to our lives so that it can search our hearts, purify our thoughts and mind. The Word of God will show us how to be the light in a dark world, the salt that preserves souls, and ambassadors for the Kingdom of God. We cannot show the lost and dying world the love and healing power of Jesus Christ if we have not first allowed Him to work the fruits of the Spirit into us.
In order to be peaceful with others, we must find in ourselves the things we use to make peace. We give mercy to those who need mercy, we give grace to cover mistakes, we give forgiveness before it is asked for, we give love to those who need it, we give love to our enemies. We pray the Lord give us His eyes so we can see in others what He sees. It can be so difficult to look past the exterior to see a person's heart. To do so, we must open our hearts and minds to the healing and saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ...and then we share the love of Jesus, and what He has done for us with those that need Him so desperately.
That is how we make peace.
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