Two major earthquakes have struck Sumatra, the western-most large island of the country, in the last couple of days. A 7.6 magnitude quake struck Wednesday, followed by a 6.6 magnitude quake today, according to CNN.com. According to the UN at least 1,100 people have died and there is much material devastation, particularly in the city of Padang.

The government and international groups are providing emergency rescue personnel, food, shelter and medical care.

Let us, Christian brothers and sisters, pray for people in Indonesia who are in danger or in affected areas. We can pray that the church there will be strengthened and encouraged during this time, and that families who have lost loved ones will be comforted.

We can also help with material assistance. World Vision is accepting monetary donations. DirectRelief International is providing assistance to its partners in Indonesia who provide medical relief; it is also accepting donations.

God has finished creating heaven and earth. Now the Genesis account turns its focus to His creation of humanity.

2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created — when the LORD God made the earth and heavens.

5 Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 The LORD God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

In verse 5 the first term (Hebrew siakh) probably refers to wild, uncultivated plants while the second (‘esev) refers to cultivated grains. The second part of the verse explains the lack of these two things: there was no rain and no man. It is hard to say for sure whether no rain had yet fallen on the earth or it’s just that there was little or no rain in a particular region being referred to here. “Man” is the Hebrew word ‘adam which here refers to all humanity, though it can also refer to an individual male or be used as a proper name, depending on the context.

In verse 7, “formed” is the Hebrew verb yatsar which means “to form” or “to fashion,” usually by plan or design. The man was a combination of a body (the soil of the ground), which linked him to creation, and a spirit (the breath of life). “Breath” is the Hebrew nyshamah, used for God and the life imparted to humans, but not animals. These two things together made man a “living being” (Hebrew nephes hayyah). This is the same term used in 1:20 for the “living creatures” that God created in the sea and the sky. Humans, like the animals, are a combination of the material and immaterial. But humans have a likeness to God and an ability to relate to Him that animals do not have.

8 The LORD God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there). 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Genesis account has God planting an orchard (traditionally translated ‘garden’) where the man He has created is placed. This garden is in Eden, an unspecified and mysterious location. Verses 10-14 are little help but the reference to “east” (east of Israel?) and the Euphrates suggest somewhere in the Middle East.

15 The LORD God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. 16 Then the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

Verses 15-17 offer some clues about man’s spiritual state and relationship with God at this point. For one thing, he was put to work (verse 15). This work may not have been very difficult, but even so, man was involved in gainful activity; he was not just lounging around. So work preceeded the rebellion of humans against God; it was not a result of the fall of humanity and is not an inherently bad thing.

Also, man had the capacity to make moral choices — to choose between right and wrong. “Commanded” in verse 16 is the first appearance in the Bible of the Hebrew verb tsavah (“to command”). God commanded the man to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It would be unwise to assume that man did not yet have any understanding of good and evil. He must have had enough moral understanding to comprehend that obeying this command would be a good idea and disobeying it would not; otherwise why would God have given that command? Also, while we today tend to view the terms ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as pertaining to whether something is morally right or wrong, this is not always the case in the Bible. ‘Good’ is sometimes used in scripture to describe something as being in conformity with God’s will (for example throughout the creation narrative in chapter one). The Hebrew word ra’ (“evil”) has a very broad range of meanings in the Bible, depending on the context. It can refer to difficulty or misfortune in a practical sense (for example, Isaiah 45.7) or intrinsic moral and spiritual evil, with many variations and gradations for both of those senses.

It also appears that man knew what death was; at least it seems reasonable to assume that God’s warning at the end of verse 17 would mean something to him.

Here are a few scripture passages from Proverbs, a book of the Bible which has much to say about the art of living. Perhaps you have realized there is more to life than how you compare to other people in ways the world considers important — power, wealth, relationships. Proverbs teaches that living well has to do not just with what you have but what you do with what you have. There is a difference between expressing love to other people and leeching off of people; between enjoying things and merely possesing them; between making a difference and attaining a position. There is a difference between loving the light and loving darkness; between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. There is a difference between life and death. Life is commonly thought of as physical existence, and how good your life is is thought of as how much power, sex and stuff you manage to accumulate before it runs out, or how much knowledge or entertainment you can experience. But life is a precious gift from God, a gift which defies definition. And its quality actually has little if anything to do with what we associate with “the good life”. It does have a great deal to do with how closely we adhere to the way of our Creator.

Choosing the way of life, God’s way, does not come naturally to us, because of our sinful nature. Yet we can sense that this way is better — better for us and for others around us. At times when we are more successful in following this way, we can see the difference it makes.

God, through His Word, encourages us to follow His way and assures us that it is better than the way of sin.

Proverbs 2

This chapter is worth quoting in its entirety:

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.

So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.

So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. (Proverbs 2, ESV)

“Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path…” The wisdom that comes from God enables us to understand what is right, just and fair. It enables us to understand what is good — what is good to do and the way it is good to be — in our relationships with people, at our job, in handling finances, in what we do in our community, in everything.

The wisdom of God’s way helps us avoid the way of evil and people who love to walk in darkness, “who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil…and who are devious in their ways”. It is apparent in our society, at least in America, that much entertainment glorifies evil; there is an attitude that has infiltrated society so insidiously that we have barely realized it, an attitude which commends or nods approvingly at the very perverseness of things which we all know are wrong. There is more ‘coolness’ or ’street-cred’ or ‘relevance’ or ‘you-fill-in-the-blank’ ascribed to things which are wrong or at least hint at wrong. And many will use any and every trick to get what they want. No one actually says, “You should be a devious person.” Yet that is what someone is really saying when they tell you, “If you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying.”

God’s advice: Don’t give in to this; be different. Distance yourself from it. Instead seek what is good and right and true. You will be better off. You may lose out on some of the world’s goodies. But remember, real life, the life which is really worth having, is not about having the world’s goodies.

Those who trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins receive the Holy Spirit, which gives us wisdom from God and guides us into the way of truth. The Spirit and the Word, together, teach and guide us into the good life.

The way of the wicked

Don’t the following verses contain a perfect description of the life of one who does wrong and doesn’t care?

Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
protect it, because it is your life.
Do not enter the path of the wicked,
or walk in the way of those who are evil.
Avoid it, do not go on it;
turn away from it, and go on.
For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm;
they are robbed of sleep until they make someone stumble.
For they eat bread gained from wickedness
and drink wine obtained from violence.

But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light,
growing brighter and brighter until full day.
The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness;
they do not know what causes them to stumble. (Proverbs 4:13-19)

“…they are robbed of sleep until they make someone stumble.” It is sometimes said that you are not “really living” unless you do something morally questionable. Do not be someone who thinks this is true, because it is not really true for anyone.

“…they do not know what causes them to stumble.” How many people (and I have done this) have done what is wrong and then wondered why things in life are not going very well? There is no mystery as to why that is. The Word of God suggests that living in darkness obscures our vision so that we cannot even understand what is really going on.

Perhaps for some people, such a situation might be a kind of escape from things that have happened in their life that they want to run from. But there is a better way to escape and a better life to escape to. The Bible calls it The Way. Let Jesus introduce you to it. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV)

A warning against adultery

No discussion of the difference between having a life where you are actually alive, and a “life” where you are really little more than the walking dead, would be complete without talking about something that is a serious problem even among believers: sexual immorality. Many pastors seem to be afraid to address it. We will not shy away from it here.

Though this passage deals mainly with adultery, it is applicable to all situations where people are doing sexual acts with each other in situations outside of marriage.

For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life,
keeping you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes,
for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished. (Proverbs 6:23-29, NIV)

Many houses have fireplaces in which to set a fire. Fire, if kept in its place, can give warmth and be very enjoyable. But if it is not kept in its place, but is, for example, set in the middle of the room, just because we don’t want to be limited to the fireplace and want to try something different, the results can be disastrous.

Sex, in the same way, is a gift from God that can, if not kept in its place, leave a trail of spiritual, relational, emotional and physical devastation through our lives and our families. We see a lot of this in many areas of the world, including America. Part of the problem often is the breakdown of the family and particularly the lack of a morally credible father figure and male leader.

Perhaps you have made your share of mistakes in the past. It is not too late to make a change, if you’ll let God do the changing by the power of His Spirit. It is not too late to start really living.

Perhaps you are a young person with your whole life ahead of you. Perhaps you have struggled with this, and part of the reason has been the chaotic situation you have had to grow up in — the lack of a strong, stable family. Well, if we are going to have strong, loving families, it has to start somewhere. It could start with you. Take God’s commands, His teaching, His guidance to heart. Line your life up with it and build your life on it.

Perhaps you are a committed Christian who has tasted the good life, the abundant life in Christ Jesus. But you have stumbled badly and wonder what it means for your relationship with God and your future as His child. Be encouraged that God finishes what He starts. He started a work in you when you put your faith in Christ. And “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) The first step is to take the remorse and discouragement you feel and channel it toward repentance to God. “But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

*****

If you haven’t already done so, put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Let the Holy Spirit have room to move in your heart and in your life. Let it teach you wisdom.

Ask God for wisdom. Seek it as you would seek hidden treasure. Build your life on God’s Word. Seek to walk in the light and shun the darkness. Be dead to the world but alive to God. Avoid the world’s way of death — the love of darkness, the glorification of might over right, the glamorization of the very perversness of evil, the self-centeredness and predatory opportunism — which clatters noisily like so many skeletons.

Seek to be as God is — loving, righteous, just, merciful. Seek to do what is good, right, fair and true. Express, in attitudes and actions, the love of Christ toward family, friends, coworkers and strangers. Let the Word guide you and the Holy Spirit empower you in this.

And as you do, may

The LORD bless you and protect you;
The LORD make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

“Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35, NIV)

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” (John 14:12-13, NIV)

“But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets – that his Christ would suffer – he has fulfilled in this way. Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you – that is, Jesus.” (Acts 3:18-19)

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. (Romans 8:18-21)

Greater things are yet to come; greater things are still to be done here.

There is good news! God is love. He showed us what His love is like by sending His Son to die for our sins. And when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and given the Holy Spirit, which compels us to love others with the same kind of love God first showed us.

This message was given by Mark Babin at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia, USA on 14 January 2001. If you listen to only one sermon the rest of your life, let it be this one. It proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and also ends up succinctly explaining what being a Christian is all about. On this particular occasion the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, and you will hear that mentioned. My apologies for the audio quality; this was originally recorded as a cassette tape and there is some tape hiss.

Written by Michael W. Smith

Alleluia Alleluia
For our Lord God
Almighty reigns

Holy Holy
Are You Lord God
Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Amen

“…Day and night they never stop saying:

‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.’” (Revelation 4:8, NIV)

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9-10, NIV)

2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

On “the seventh day” God “ceased” (or rested; the Hebrew word is sabat) the work of creation He had been doing. He stopped not because of fatigue but because He was finished. The seventh day or Sabbath day became, in Jewish law, a day of fellowship with God by, among other things, ceasing or resting from one’s earthly work.

The Sabbath day is a kind of picture of the rest of God. The first part of Hebrews chapter four has an excellent discussion of the Sabbath-rest of God. It is not just God’s rest, it is also ours if we will put our faith in Him and the One He sent. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10, ESV)

After God created this world and all kinds of creatures, He created us.

26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”

27 God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.

The Hebrew word translated as “humankind” in v. 26 is ‘adam. Depending on the context it can mean all humanity, including males and females, or an individual male human being, or it can be used as a proper name for a particular man. Here it refers collectively to the whole human species or human race. Older English translations of the Bible have typically translated this as ‘man’.

We were created by God in His image, after His likeness. The Bible teaches that God is spirit, so the likeness of God has to do with spiritual attributes rather than physical ones. What makes us human is not our physical body, though that is a part of our humanity, but that we were created to bear a spiritual resemblance to God. We are not on God’s level, but we were given the ability to make moral choices and to be in a relationship with God.

Since the introduction of sin into God’s creation, our ability to make the right choices and to relate to God has been severely and adversely affected. We have become a combination of God’s creation and sin’s effects. We sometimes show signs of being God’s creation, and at other times show little resemblance to God’s attributes of love, righteousness, justice and mercy. But this is a whole other subject!

Verse 27 underlines that we were created in God’s likeness as both male and female. Both sexes have qualities which reflect our Creator and both have equal value in His sight. This world’s tendency to view men as intrinsically superior to women really has to do with the effects of sin on our world; there is no suggestion here that it was God’s desire or intention.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food.” It was so.

Like the animals, we are a combination of a physical body and a spirit from God (see Ch. 2 v. 7). But unlike the animals, we were created in His likeness and given the ability to relate to Him. Also, as part of His creation we were given a position of authority over “all the creatures that move on the earth.” (v. 26) In v. 28, “subdue” is Hebrew kabas, literally ’stamp on’, and “rule over” is radah, literally ‘tread down’. Mankind was given a mandate to exercise dominion over the earth and its creatures and use them for his own benefit. However, this is balanced by the Bible’s teaching that we are not to mistreat or inflict cruelty on animals but should extend some care and concern for what God has created and placed under our control. Verse 30 shows that God makes provision for the well-being of all the earth’s creatures (see also Exodus 23:11-12; Leviticus 25:7; Deuteronomy 22:6-7; 25:4; Proverbs 12:10;  Ezekiel 34:17-24).  We do not own this world, God does. We have been given stewardship of it, which means we have some responsibility for it.

31 God saw all that he had made — and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

2:1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.

When God had finished creating the universe and everything in it, including this world and us, He saw that it was “very good” — there was nothing wrong with it. The Master Artist does not create any junk! The creation was a perfect expression of the Creator’s love and creativity. It still is filled with beauty; it still can amaze us and fill us with awe.

Sung at Harvest Crusade 2006 in San Jose, California.

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.’” (John 6:35)

Peace is from God. It is based on being in a right relationship with Him. Peace is a state of being, a condition. It is healthy and harmonious relationships between God and people and among people; it results in wholeness, completeness and well-being.

Unfortunately this world tends to not be interested in healthy and harmonious relationships as much as it is in having more power, wealth and other natural pleasures. We have rebelled against God; instead of seeking good things from Him, we seek to go our own way and get good things through our own effort. As we do so, we are often willing to lie, cheat or commit violence against others if we think we can get away with it. Our sinful desires drive us into conflict with each other.

The peace breaker

Not long ago I heard a sermon in which the speaker posed this question: “Are you a peace breaker, a peace faker or a peacemaker?” The peace breaker could be considered anyone who has lied, cheated, or done violence to someone else. It is the person who treats someone else with cold indifference for no good reason, or who kills someone else with derogatory words. It is the company which undertakes certain obligations then fails to keep its commitments, or the official in a position of public trust who betrays that trust. It is the ethnic group which embarks on a campaign of murder or ethnic cleansing against another group, or the state which disregards the rights or needs of other states in its foreign policy.

We have all been peace breakers at some point because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) We have all broken the Ten Commandments, which outline God’s expectations for our attitude toward Him and our treatment of each other. We have treated each other in a way we would not want to be treated; this has a way of becoming a vicious cycle as we use mistreatment at the hands of others to justify our own mistreatment of others. Instead of seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness and loving others as we love ourselves, we have sought more things for ourselves and reacted fearfully and angrily to anyone who might upset our apple cart.

The peace faker

We generally recognize that our lives and our world are in a less than ideal condition. Most of us want peace of some kind — peace in our lives, our families, our communities and our world. From time to time we get tired of trying to have our own way all the time, and just want a little relief from the peace breakers around us. At those times we may want peace so much that we are willing to pay any price for it. The peace faker is the one who will take peace at any price. The problem is that the peace is counterfeit and is not worth the price being paid for it.

A relationship is broken, is not what it should be. The peace faker, rather than addressing the problem, decides to act as if there is no problem. Someone avoids seriously engaging an estranged family member. Community leaders claim to not be aware of the legitimate grievances of a bitter and resentful minority. A country, in its dealings with a rival state which is pursuing expansionist and destabilizing policies, avoids all confrontation and tries to placate its adversary with concession after concession. The peace faker thinks that if unpleasantness is avoided, that if the conflict is managed in such a way that negative consequences are avoided, then there is peace.

It takes wisdom and discernment to know what to do in a conflict. We must be honest and clear-headed enough to know when the other side is causing the problem and when we are causing the problem. We must be sensitive to the effect of our words and actions on others. Sometimes managing conflict is the better part of valor when it buys time for a solution to come about or when there is simply no better alternative.

But we must be clear about something: peace is not merely the absence of conflict or its consequences, violent or otherwise. It is healthy and harmonious relationships, a condition of well-being. The peace faker gives up on reaching real peace. And even the false peace — the calm — that is attained may not last.

The peacemaker

Ultimately the only way to have real peace is through communion with — through a relationship with — God. When we are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer enemies of God. That in turn means we no longer have to be enemies of each other. And we receive the Holy Spirit, through which we can partake of the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control of God Himself. To the degree that we as individuals, families, communities and nations are reconciled to God through Christ, we can experience peace with Him and receive grace from Him to be peacemakers.

However, there is natural resistance by this world against the good news of Jesus Christ. Those who attempt to spread awareness of new life through Christ will not only be opposed at some point, but may even be accused of causing conflict! How ironic and perplexing it can be for believers, who simply want to bless others, to find themselves in such a situation. Jesus himself addressed this issue, assuring His followers that the advance of the kingdom of God takes priority over the false peace that comes from avoiding critical debate of spiritual issues:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39)

This does not mean believers should be mean-spirited. While we are called to spread the gospel, we are also called to reflect the love of Christ in our relationships with other people. If we are really in Christ we must show the fruit of the Holy Spirit mentioned above. The apostle Paul said, “For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people….To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some. I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.” (1 Corinthians 9:19, 22-23) A follower of Christ holds the kingdom of God first place in his or her life, and the single most important thing he can do to contribute to peace in this world is to tell others about Jesus. At the same time, there can be and must be considerable flexibility and discretion exercised as to the way in which the believer delivers the gospel message.

There will be plenty of occasions when we don’t immediately have an opportunity to overtly preach the gospel message to people but we do have the opportunity to make a difference by helping to build peace or contribute to a more peaceful environment. The grace of God can help us mend our broken relationships with others, and it can help us play a role in mending broken relationships between other people. Being an effective peacemaker requires us to lose the attitude we may sometimes have of trying to justify ourselves and prove that problems and conflicts are all someone else’s fault. We must be willing to examine ourselves and ask what we may have done to contribute to the situation. Being a peacemaker means being proactive and taking constructive actions to bring people together and increase understanding between them. It is not a passive activity, and is often very hard work.

According to Jesus the most important reason for us to be peacemakers is that it shows the world that we belong to God. God is the ultimate peacemaker; He paid an enormous price so that we could have peace. And if we have really become His spiritual children — if we have partaken of His nature — then we should also be a force for peace and restored relationships within our sphere of influence.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God….You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:9, 14-16)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

In and of ourselves we cannot be peacemakers. But if we will ask God, He will give us the ability. By His power we can contribute to peace in our corner of the world. And perhaps, if we are successful in this, it will open doors and make people want to know more about Jesus, the Prince of Peace.