Matthew 5:9

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

My mother-in-law used to ask for the same Christmas present every year when my wife and her siblings were young: “I just want you kids to get along!”  My wife and I have often felt the same way while raising our four children. Peace sure is attractive.

On a larger scale, in the last 3,400 years of recorded history, only 270 of those years have seen no war. Clearly, mankind has a problem with finding peace…with God, with each other, and even within ourselves. I like how Charles Simeon looks at this beatitude and it’s charge on the life of a Christian:

“To preserve peace where it is and to restore peace where it is not.”

I tell my kids, “You should seek after peace” and then I ask them if they remember Romans 12:18 – If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. In this beatitude, the Greek for “peacemakers” is Eirene, which signifies a harmonious relationship and is not merely the absence of war. Eirene signifies parties holding differences of opinion who are willing to turn toward each other and embrace one another in spite of their differences.

Sorry friend – “putting up with someone” isn’t good enough.  God sacrificed His own Son to bring peace to His creation. What will we sacrifice?