Thankfulness begets forgiveness, and forgiveness begets peace. Most of us tend to look at peace as our objective for life. So we look for the most direct route to find it or make it happen. But we need to understand that there is a difference in being a
“peace lover and being a peacemaker.”
Jesus said blessed are the
peacemakers
.
We cannot be peacemakers while being passive about others and more concerned about protecting our own peace. The fact is, being a peacemaker is often disruptive to our own peace, if it is only about our self.
We must serve someone else at the cost of our own peace to be a peacemaker as Jesus referenced. Why would we do this? Why would we disrupt our own peace to help someone else find peace? Well, it is the same
with why
we live with a spirit of thankfulness. It is because our King deserves it and in some way we are able to live out our thankfulness before Him by serving someone else at their point of need.
When we put our own pursuit of peace on hold to serve someone else, we have the ultimate Peacemaker giving Himself to us to meet our needs. We have His Spirit at work meeting our need for peace while we join with Him by helping someone else. Being a peacemaker is being an example of Jesus to someone else.
By the way, when the word
Christian
was first used at Antioch to describe a follower of Christ, it was meant to be a derogatory term against His people. The term meant,
“Little Christs.”
We now see it to be exactly as Jesus wants it. He wants us to be Him to someone in need. This is done by living in close proximity with Him through a thankful spirit, where He can work through us. This will lead to becoming a peacemaker.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13 NKJV
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