Bible

[Ranb2khz]

Peace With Others



We often look for peace in our relationships. The easiest way to have peace is to first have peace with God followed by the peace of God. This allows us to see things from a heavenly perspective, which will infiltrate our earthly relationships.

But we don’t always have that viewpoint, do we? Sometimes our lack of peace with others is because we’re stubborn and don’t want to meet in the middle when we don’t agree. We think arrogantly that our way is the best way. Another reason we don’t have peace with others is because we don’t want things to go well for them, either because they’ve hurt us or we’re jealous of them. We don’t want them to flourish, but instead want them to fail.

But we can learn how to live in peace with others from a variety of verses in God’s Word. Here are a few:

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone." ~ Romans 12:14-18

"And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful." ~ Colossians 3:15

"Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord." ~ Hebrews 12:14

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace." ~ James 3:17-18

"Now finally, all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you can inherit a blessing." ~ 1 Peter 3:8-9

Even when we’ve blessed those who persecuted us, have chosen not to pay back evil, and been honorable in our actions, there still may not be peace. Why? Because people are people, and as good as we try to be and as much good as we try to do, we still fall short of perfection. Not every relationship can be salvaged, but let’s do everything we can to ensure that we’ve done our part:

• Let’s love and be tenderhearted toward each other.

• Let’s believe and hope for the best for others.

• Let’s consider things from their point of view.

• Let’s apologize when we need to make wrongs right.

• Let’s pray for God to do a work in us and also a work in them.

And let’s ultimately remember that people are not our enemies. We have a real spiritual enemy who loves it when we battle and accuse each other. If we blame people, circumstances, or struggles for our stress and lack of peace, then we are inevitably giving them control over whether or not we live in peace. Let’s not give anything or anyone in our lives this kind of power. There is only One peace-bringer, and His name is Jesus. He is the Prince of all Peace.
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~ excerpt from: "Experiencing God's Peace", an original Bible Reading Plan created and provided by YouVersion