Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9, NIV)

We must first understand God’s peace before we can understand how to be a peacemaker. After looking through the use of the word peace in the New and Old Testaments, we find that God’s peace is an inner calmness resulting from a certainty of being right with God. This begins with believing Jesus is Lord and is proved by our obedience, which over time grows our faith and gives us God’s peace, no matter our circumstances.

In addition, Paul wrote, “having been justified by faith,  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Rom 5:1, NASB) and in Acts 10 we see Peter explain the gospel of peace to Cornelius. Our gospel is one of peace, and the conversion experience is our first taste of the peace of God, when we know and accept the forgiveness that comes through Christ. Being a peacemaker means we are bringing this peace to others. However, it is not that simple.

The word for children that Jesus uses in this beatitude refers to a legitimate heir. When referring to Christians, it refers to maturity: an heir made legitimate by faith and proved so by obedience, which is the fruit of repentance that demonstrates maturity. Thus, Jesus was referring to those whose maturity in the faith has been demonstrated by obedience over some time. We cannot expect new believers to truly be peacemakers, because it requires a maturity in the faith that is acquired over time and through hardship.

A true peace is demonstrated by how we respond to struggles, and going through struggles is the only way we grow in faith and in godly character. Paul wrote, “…we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope,” (Rom 5:3-4, NIV). It takes time and experience to see that suffering produces perseverance and character, which results in hope and leads to joy the next time around, since we have seen what comes from our suffering. We may not walk in God’s peace as immature believers, but as we continue to work through living out our faith, we should grow a greater and greater peace during our trials.

We become peacemakers when we are walking in God’s peace and sharing that peace with others, which does not necessarily mean that we are evangelizing. We could be sowing the seed that the evangelist reaps. Yet, I cannot stop here, because Jesus did not. In his sermon on the mount, he took everything to its extreme to teach us how to walk with Christ as a fully mature child of God.

One of the most difficult times to obey God is when we have to love our enemies, but this is the height of truly loving God, because he loved us in our wickedness and opposition to him (Rom 5:8, Eph 2:11-22). I know this is not easy, and that we are rarely able to “turn the other cheek,” much less truly care for someone who could be harming us. Yet, when we can love our enemies, what peace we have in our own hearts! It takes tremendous faith in God to live this out.

Also, while we do walk in peace by loving our enemies, and perhaps even create some peace within them as well, our love for them must include a desire to see them experience the peace of God by accepting his forgiveness and entering the kingdom of heaven. The heart of a peacemaker desires God’s peace even for our enemies, which means we desire to see them saved and with us in heaven!

This is all very theoretical and easy to write and talk about, doing it is entirely another matter. Someone cut me off the other day and my heart was filled with anger and revenge, and this just after praying that I would love my enemies. It is so easy to allow our hearts to drift away from righteousness in moments like that. Still, this is only the beginning. What if someone at work, who we have helped many times, is now trying to get us fired so they get an advancement? There is a personal relationship there, a hurtful betrayal, and a need for justice that wells up within us. We must forgive them, and love them, and not seek revenge or try to harm them in any way. Not easy!

Finally, what if someone we love very much is murdered, could we forgive the murderer? Could we love them, and want to see them in heaven with us? I cannot begin to understand that pain, so this is entirely academic for me. Yet, I want to be able to love my enemy, so I must begin by loving that guy who cut me off, and sharing God’s peace with the guy who betrays me, and hope that I am strong enough to want a very real, even violent, enemy to find peace with God through Christ. I want that peace dwelling within me, and I want to share it with others.

And if we can love our enemies, even desiring they experience the peace of Christ’s forgiveness, then how should our relationships with our spouses and fellow Christians look? Full of peace and joy and hope. Is that what Christian homes and fellowships look like? Is what appears on the surface of things genuine, or only a show? Remember, we must be pure in heart before we can fully experience God’s peace and reach the peacemaker’s maturity of faith and intimacy with God.

I do not want to minimize how challenging this can be, especially for those who have experienced tragic hurt and loss. When this life seems so awful, we must remember that our present peace comes from a hope in heaven, not this life (Heb 12:2). The reward of this great struggle is becoming a mature heir of God, no longer a slave or even a friend, but an intimate family member in God’s kingdom. John was so excited about this: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1, NIV). And when we feel the same way, we will want to love our enemies, forgiving them, and sharing God’s peace with them.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant