Keeping the Peace
Have you ever been in a situation where you have constant drama around you and conflict? It feels like a war zone where you need peacekeepers to always maintain a certain amount of peace. I know a few people who have experienced civil wars and other types of conflicts can relate to this.
Sometimes people around us can purposefully create that kind of environment. No matter how well you try to live with them, they will try to agitate you to bring out the worst in you. Such people crave the unrest they bring in your life and I tell you if you don't realize this early, you spend all your time in conflict with them. Ephesians 4:3 says "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
Genesis 13 talks about the conflict Lot had with Abraham and how Abraham solved it by allowing Lot to have what he wanted to bring peace. Sometimes you will need to let go or give the best to someone to bring peace. You cannot allow yourself to be a victim of conflict by holding on to something that someone will literally kill for. Choose life! If someone held a gun to your head and said give me your purse, will you give him the purse or allow him to kill you. Of course you will give him the purse. Our life is the peace. If you really desire peace maybe you need to let go of that priced possession or that very thing fueling the conflict.
Beyond being practical ,we need to acknowledge that it is only through Him that we can have total peace. Isaiah 26:3 says that “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” John 16:33 also assures us of the peace God bestows on us ....“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” So then, lets keep trusting our maker and continue to ask Him for the Peace that surpasses all understanding that He alone can grant us.
