By Allen White
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and
through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or
things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians
1:19-20
Peace
is costly. For God to make peace with human beings, He sacrificed His Son,
Jesus. Justice dictates that people are responsible for their actions and
deserve to face the consequences of their sins (Ezekiel 16:58). God intervened
– not by divine edict, not by erasing the consequences, but by paying the
price.
Think
about the conflicts in your own life: at home, at work, in your family, in your
neighborhood, at church. What will you have to forfeit in order to secure peace
in that situation? Maybe pride or stubbornness are standing in the way.
Proverbs 29:1 tells us, “A person who will not bend after many warnings will suddenly
be broken beyond repair” (GW). If we want to wreck our lives, then we just go
ahead with our stubbornness and pride.
We
might have to acknowledge that we’ve been wrong and apologize. When we think
about the conflicts we are facing right now, have we owned up to how we’ve
wronged them? No one is perfect. No one is sinless, except for Jesus. Often the
first step toward peace is admitting our wrong and saying, “I’m sorry.”
Peacemaking
becomes difficult when both sides have wronged each other. Insult builds upon
insult. Who is the person in your life that just can’t seem to do anything
right? That’s the person that I’m talking about. So much resentment has built
up over time and the devil has established so many footholds (Ephesians 4:26-27)
that things seem impossible to resolve. It will take much time and effort to
bring about peace. Are you willing? Are they? You probably won’t know until
you’ve taken the first step.
Take
that first step as soon as you can. Pray about it, then own up to how you’ve
wronged them, regardless of how they’ve wronged you. Ask God to forgive you.
Ask the other person to forgive you. You might want to write out your thoughts
first. Focus on what you need to do to reconcile. Don’t focus on how great it
would be to change the other person so that your life could be easier.
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