Today’s passage says this: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”.
Due to the frenzy of the celebrations of the end of the year, some people are trying to revive their relationship with family members or friends, and even with the Lord. Indeed, there are people who go to church only on December 25 each year… My brother, my sister, behaving this way is making a truce with the Lord or with family and friends. Now let me remind you that truce is necessary only where there is war or hostilities. If you feel that you must reconnect with the Lord only to feel at peace with Him in this festive season, then you are using your truce card, which means you are at war with the Lord. A true Christian is in a relationship with the Lord and maintains it throughout the year. What does it mean?
To better understand it, we need to remember that our God is a God of peace who says “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35). So, for us to be able to do good to our enemies do we avoid them? NO… Only truce-makers avoid their enemies throughout the year, never pray for them or even think of doing anything good to them, then around Christmas time, they make an effort to bring back temporary peace in between them. How many believers have lived separated to their loved ones, avoiding them or neglecting them throughout the year, maybe due to a simple misunderstanding… and today, because of the festive season, they are preparing to sit around a table to share a meal, just to forget about each others tomorrow! That has nothing to do with Christianity… it is a worldly application of peace, which is simply called truce… My friend, God has given us His forgiveness and His forgiveness is conditional: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12) and the Bible also says: “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13)…
My friend, truce is a suspension of hostilities for a specified period of time, it is a cease-fire, armistice… it is a temporary respite, as from trouble or pain. Ensure your relationship with God is not based on such terms, for if that is the case, you are clearly at war with Him… and because there are only two realities, if you are at war with the Lord, then you are at peace with the devil. Yes, you can’t be ignoring God for a whole year just like you can’t be saying you have not talked to a loved one for a year and pretend you are at peace with them! When you are at peace with someone, you look for that person, you visit them, you talk to them, you discuss with them… not only on Christmas period. We should learn to position ourselves in the right relationship with the Lord. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.
My friend, truce is a suspension of hostilities for a specified period of time, it is a cease-fire, it is armistice… it is a temporary respite from problems or pain. Ensure that your relationship with God is not based on such terms, for if that is the case, you are clearly at war with Him… and because there are only two realities, if you are at war with the Lord, then you are at peace with the devil. Yes you cannot ignore the Lord throughout the year as you cannot ignore your family or friends for a year and pretend you are at peace with them! When you are at peace with someone special (I do not mean mere acquaintances), you see that person, you visit them, you talk to them, you discuss with them… not only on Christmas time to try to catch up on time. We should learn to position ourselves in a good relationship with the Lord of peace. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.