Gee, I really miss her....
A little bit ago, I sat on my porch and watched 2 lizards in my yard fighting. Then a third lizard approached and literally got in between the two, stopping the fight. It stood between them for a few moments and then the fighters both went their separate directions. (I wonder if it was their mother.) Watching that scene reminded me of one day, back in the States, when my friend Paula sat across my dining room table and told me something I remember often. She said that CHRIST has called us to be "peacemakers not peacekeepers."
That's a really big difference ,isn't it?
I am fairly decent at peacekeeping. Just don't rock the boat. Say what people want to hear. Don't offend, or say things that are hard to hear...even if they're true. Actually, I am better than decent at all that. I'd say I'm really good at peacekeeping.
But, HE wants me to be a peacemaker. Hmmm...a peace maker. Like that crazy lizard? That means bringing peace into a place it wasn't before. I admit, I find conflict very interesting....as long as it is other people's. I don't want to personally be involved in it.
A while back UJ was teaching me about the armor of GOD. When he got to the part about fitting our feet with the preparation of the GOSPEL of peace he explained that these are boots of peace. We are to walk with purpose, with intention to bring peace to the places we go. Sometimes you have to fight for it, he said. Fight? for peace?
I don't do that. Honestly, I don't know that I would even know how to do that. I mean, I grew up in church. I know church. If you fight, you're a troublemaker.....right? Good CHRISTians don't say unpleasant things. They don't get involved in people's business or bring up people's (shhhh s-i-n)...at least not to the person. They just bring it up as a "prayer request". They stay out of other people's conflicts.
They're always nice.
I want to be a good CHRISTian....don't I? Oh wait....I want to be a JESUS lover, a WILD MAN follower.
HE is not a nice guy.
HE wears boots of peace. HE loves ALL the time. HE speaks truth ALL the time. HE works and fights and bleeds...and dies for unity...for peace.
I don't do that, either. I'm nice. HE wants me to be kind. HE doesn't like "nice guys". That's not real. Kind is real. Kind is true. Peacemakers...that's what HE is about. Nice is for peacekeepers.
I saw a peacemaker the other day off my balcony. In the football field (aka the road) a lively game was going on between about 15 boys. It's the dry season, so every move they made created a cloud of dust. Feet were flying all over, trying to get a piece of the ball. In the bustle, one boy got hurt. He laid face down on the ground and wailed. Some of the boys walked off. Others stood over him, chiding him. Others began to kick him cruelly. Then, everyone walked away and sat down a ways off from him. He laid there alone for a few moments. But then a little boy walked from the edge of the road, knelt down and said something to the boy, took his hand and sat him up. He studied the wounded boys knee closely and then pulled him to his feet. He placed his arm around his shoulders and walked him to the side. Shortly after, the game resumed.
I was stunned. He's a peacemaker! I don't have to understand their language, or know any specifics to know that it wasn't easy to do what he did. Fighting for the weak is no path to fame and glory in this place.
It's no pass to fame and glory in any place for that matter. But it is the way of GLORY in that other place, you know, the PEACEMAKER's KINGdom. In that KINGdom, no matter the season, boots are always in style.
"For HE HIMSELF is our peace, WHO has made us both one and has broken down in HIS flesh the dividing wall of hostility" Eph 2:14
Yes, sister, you have hit upon that odd balance in the Scriptures. Jesus said, "I came not to bring peace but a sword." He also said, "My peace I leave with you." And, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Amen! Tension and balance for His glory in our lives!
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