Piecemakers

"We are told to be peacemakers. Not piecemakers."

WE MUST stop looking for an occasion to offend someone. We, the people of Christ, our beautiful loving Messiah, are actually looking for an opportunity to “say our piece.” We’re “going to make an example” of that popular figure, those politicians, that well-known entertainer, those major preachers. We all about exposing their faults and using Jesus to justify it. I will say it again – Yes, Jesus tossed out the moneychangers, and yes, He called the religious men of His day “hypocrites” and “vipers,” but HE DIED FOR THEM. And we know from the gospels and the book of Acts that many of them got saved.

We are called to be men and women of peace, filled with the Presence of the God of peace. We are told to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). Not PIECEMAKERS. It is not our job to expose people’s sins but to cover them with the love of God so that He can work truth in their lives (1 Peter 4:8). I’ve made this example many times lately, but when we get angry, our instinct is to lash out. We say, “If they hadn’t done what they’ve done, then this would have never happened,” or something similar. What has us angry becomes their fault. But what we should do instead is see our anger as the problem. What if you didn’t get angry at them at all? What if they never made you mad? Our anger is a sign we need to change. Psalm 119:165 in the Amplified Classic and the King James Version has become my personal confession.

(KJV) “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
(AMPC) “Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.”

We should substitute “the Word” for “thy law,” as we are New Covenant people, but the truth is clear. When we are full of the Word, not just as words, but as Jesus, when He is our adoration, our constant desire, then we will be as loving as He is, with the heart of the Father that sent Him to save us.

Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). Love for other people, of course, but love for other people comes from our love for God. Not just the love OF God, as if it is a separate thing, but as is pictured of a husband and wife and their adoration, their desire for each other, our love for Him is our ALLELUIA, our wildest praises. Because we love Him so very much, we trust Him for all we need. It would help many to remove the word “faith” from their vocabulary. It is more like an emotion than how we’ve been taught. We have made it like building an engine, as something which we must do well and in its entirety or God does not act, and nothing could be further from the truth. When Jesus healed multitudes of people, He healed all of them regardless of their “faith.” Most had none. They simply saw Him as a way to feel better, and because God is mercy, and mercy comes from love. Jesus’ touch was all they needed. He didn’t judge them for their sins. Remember the Samaritan woman and the woman caught in adultery in this.

READ “Alleluia.”

We judge everyone for their sins. And we then display them on social media. We repeat them to our friends. We’ve made public exposure part of the healing process as much as our “suffering persecution.” But, in fact, being willing to be persecuted makes us liable for making them into persecutors. You heard me. We’ve given them an opportunity to say what they said through our reaction to it. There are those who’ve been persecuted who hold no blame. I am sure of this and admire them for their suffering. But many times our attitude caused the fight.

We can be at peace in the midst of turmoil. This is God’s heart from Genesis to Malachi, from Matthew and into the truth of John’s Revelation. Especially there. In John’s words, we should see God bringing peace and rescuing people, we should see the goodness of God, and stop painting it as a war and an ultimate, apocalyptic battle with great bloodshed. That is not my gentle and kind Father at all.

That is not Jesus.

Nor the Holy Spirit, who writes these words. He would have you set down your swords and pick up His anointing, which from the first words of His coming to us, spoken in John 14:17, on the lips of Jesus, were coupled with peace so great (Verse 27), that in the midst of great mental pressure and physical suffering leading to death, our Savior endured a bloody cross and a horrible beating without speaking one word of being offended, nor showing any anger at all. Instead, He cried out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).”

Where is our echo?

Image by andreas N from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com