~PEACE~

~PEACE~

My Question: How can I make peace with the people around me, knowing that it is either them or myself, that people find it hard to live with and get along?

God’s Answer: Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you (2 Corinthians 13:11)… Always keep yourself united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace (Ephesians 4:3)… Never pay back evil for evil to anyone… Do your part to live in peace with everyone (Romans 12:17-18)

When I spent some moment to reflect and did some quick flashback on what had been happening around me over the past few days (and hours) it was worth the time spent as I realized that I have not been so merciful with some of the younger members in the church, partly because I’m genetically fierce and I stressed very much on the church discipline.

‎Among the things that we have missed so far is the openness to correction from the minister of God's word and some are being too stubborn and emotionally defensive. How can we BERUBAH (kitai mesti) if we refused to listen? God speaks through man too, bear that in mind. God want to use others to correct us, and as iron sharpens iron, we may grow into maturity and directed into a proper Christian ethics.

Too often we react to differences of opinion with the swords we know as our tongues. Even if we don’t see that in our very own eyes, we can still those mentioned skirmishes in Facebook, Twitter or other cyber means of communication. We forget that these things are open to public, hence other people can read whatever we have argued and so on. That’s not a good thing I might say.

Angry debates, insults, accusations, verbal manipulation and character assassination are some of the ways we try to make ourselves and our agenda the “winner”. But the victory isn’t WORTH it, dude. Too many people are wounded, too many relationships are hurt. Constructive disagreements are essential to deep relationships, but conflict that divides the church breaks God’s heart.

This misdirects energy that should be spent on DISCIPLESHIP, EVANGELISM, WORSHIP and MISSIONS. It also sabotages our witness to the world (John 17:20-23). Friends, we need to express our opinions in a way that honors and serves those who differs from you (Proverbs 12:18).

Finally, I’ll leave all of you with this short sentence from Psalm 34:14:

“WORK HARD AT LIVING IN PEACE WITH OTHERS”