Tag Archive - Peacemaking

Seeing the Best in Others

June 17, 2011 in Weekly Email with 1 Comment

Last Sunday I shared about celebrating the success of others. There is plenty of God’s favor to go around. He is a big God. There is no reason to be jealous when someone else appears to be getting all the recognition. If our heart is on the kingdom, we will celebrate kingdom success no matter who gets the credit. If our heart is on ourselves we will be jealous and envious of others.

On a similar note, along with celebrating the success of others, we can believe the best in others as well. It is easy to see the fault and flaws of others. Faith in God gives us the ability past the faults and flaws and to see the potential in that person to be used by God.

When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion he was looked upon with suspicion (see Acts 9:26-28). Everyone saw what he had been. He had persecuted Christians. He had been an evil man. But God changed his heart on the road to Damascus. Yet, it was not the changed heart most people saw in Paul. They still saw the old Saul, who was out to destroy the Christians. It was only Barnabas who could see past that with the eyes of faith to see the great potential in this man.

I can almost see it now how the Christians in Jerusalem were whispering how this man Paul was up to no good. They talked among themselves how they believe he was infiltrating their ranks so that he could destroy the movement. Paul was looked upon with suspicion and people did not want much to do with Paul. I imagine the more people talked about it, the more the perception seemed to become reality. In the midst of all this Barnabas defended Paul when no one else did. He knew there was a different story to tell than the one that was being told.

As believers we are called to defend one another and stand up for the reputation of those doing the things of God. It is clear that those who are serving the Lord in the greatest ways are often the biggest targets for criticism and even hatred. The first thing we agree to on our membership covenant at Lord of Life is the refusal to gossip. Not only do we refuse to gossip but we will confront it and call it out when others participate in it. It has no place in the church.

The moral of the story is to see the best in others even when everyone else only sees the worst. It is much easier to be a critic especially when everyone around us is being a critic. Critics love company. Your role is when others are the critic you be the one to see the potential in the other person to be used by God. After all, it is God who sees the potential in you to be used by him in spite of all your own flaws. He is your biggest cheerleader and there are many who need you to be their cheerleader.

The Marriage Promise

February 7, 2011 in Posts with 0 Comments

Kicked of a new message series yesterday. Used this video to open my message:

Marriage Promise from onetimeblind on Vimeo.

A Family Miracle

January 27, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

We are a nation in crisis. There is no doubt we have all heard about the financial crisis, but what lies underneath the financial crisis is a family crisis. No doubt the financial crisis has put extra stress on families and has exposed the shifting foundation upon which many marriages have been built. 5 out of every 10 marriages today end in divorce court, long before death do us part. The scary thing is this statistic applies to both Christian and non-Christian couples alike. It does not have to be this way.

It is a topic that I believe is important to address over the month of February (don’t forget Valentine’s Day is February 14). I believe it is important to address what God has to say about marriages and families. We will look to the Bible to hear that word of instruction.

I know there is hurt that exists within many marriages in our community and within our church family as well. It is time we stop looking at man made solutions to our problems and trust in God’s ability to bring the healing that only he can bring. Before anything else, we go to him in prayer. We are foolish to think we are going to make our marriages and families better on our own. It will start with God. Let’s humbly go to him in prayer and ask him first what he has to say about our families. Then let’s go to him in behalf of the families in our communities. Let’s pray for harmony between husbands and wives. Let’s pray for parents to nurture their children in the God’s ways. Let’s pray for children to honor their fathers and mothers. Let’s pray that husbands would love their wives as Christ loves the church and for wives to honor their husbands as the heads of the house. Let’s pray for marriages that are on the brink of divorce to be brought back. Let’s pray for a family miracle because if it’s going to happen it is God who will make it happen.

I want to ask a couple of favors of you as we prepare to begin this message series on February 6. First is to start praying. Start praying about the things that I mentioned above. Pray for the things that will be shared in this message series to have a lasting impact and that it will be an incredible blessing to so many. Pray that hope will come those families living in hopelessness. Pray for a mighty move of God to be sparked.

Second, I would ask that you would invite others to come and to hear and to participate in this message series. It is a message I am sure that many need to hear and that there is a potential for many to be blessed by it. Help us get the word out.

Finally, be open. Come with an open mind and an open heart. If you are feeling that the obstacles are too great. Maybe you feel as if your relationship is too far gone. Just give God a chance. Nothing is impossible for him.

I Can’t Do This

December 7, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I have been amazed watching our daughter grow. When it comes to learning, she soaks things up like a sponge. Watching her begin to learn to read is such a miracle right before our eyes.

But then I will see her question herself and her ability. There are times when I know she has the ability, but not the confidence. I know she can sound out the letters, but she thinks it is too hard and she gives up.

Things don’t change much when we get older. There are may times in life we reach that point and we say to ourselves, “I can’t do this.” We question our ability. We end up stuck at a dead end with seemingly no way out.

When we get in this situation, we have a number of possible of responses. The first is to continue to do what we have been doing. Of course, we know this is the definition of insanity. Doing what we have been doing is what got us into this place originally. There is no reason to expect different results.

A second response is to give up. It is to quit. It is to just lie down and die and accept our fate. We leave behind our dreams, our hopes, and our affection for others.

A third response is to escape. We might do this by turning to drugs or alcohol. Others might drown themselves in excessive work or playing around on the internet. We simply try to run away. There are several mechanisms available to help us escape, but the reality is none of them offer us true freedom from the circumstances we find ourselves in.

We have been told that we can do anything we want if we put our mind to it. This is a dangerous lie we have been led to believe. We all have our limitations. As frustrating and potentially depressing as it is to reach those limitations, it is a good place to be. Yes, you heard me right. It is a good place to be! Why you ask?

When you reach the point where you say, “I can’t do this,” you come to grips with the fact that you are not God. We like to put ourselves in the place of God, that there is nothing that I cannot accomplish. But to reach your limitations is recognize your mortality. There was only one Superman and he went by the name Jesus.

After you realize you are not God, you will recognize your need for God. Think about this. If there was nothing you could not do, what need would you have for God? The answer is none! Do you see the danger with this? Without recognizing our need for God there is the danger we will leave God on the outside looking in.

But once you recognize your need for God, you will start to seek him. There are so many promises in the Scriptures about what happens when you seek him. The most famous of these promises are found in the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus says, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well” (Matthew 6:33). Later he says, “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). In another place in the Scriptures, it says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8).

When we open the pages of the Scriptures, when we come to receive the Sacrament, and when we get on our knees to pray to the Most High God we begin to see God show up in amazing ways. We see him take us to new heights and to greater service.

If you have come to the end of your ability, you might be in no greater place because you are now left to rely on God’s ability. No, you can’t do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. But you can do all things through Christ who gives you the strength. It’s time to stop taking matters into our own hands and putting them into his.

Controlling Anger

December 6, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. Proverbs 29:11

I have been thinking about the subject of anger recently. I don’t know if it is just me, but people just seem more angry than ever before. Maybe that is why I loved this proverb from my daily devotion.

Anger is not necessarily a bad thing. Jesus became angry when he overturned the money changers in the temple. But we need to keep in mind we are not Jesus. When we get angry, we are not as good at controlling our anger. While Jesus used his anger for kingdom purposes, we often use our anger to exact revenge.

There is great wisdom in these words. There is the right time and the right place to vent our anger. There is a way to do it that is constructive and there is a way to do it that is destructive. The problem is when we vent our anger we often do it in destructive ways which hurt others and ultimately ourselves.

Sometimes it is better to just bite our lip, because what we have to share is helping no one including ourselves. When you feel yourself getting angry, step back from the situation. Go to the Word. Go to God in prayer. Seek his wisdom. Ask him what he would have you say in this situation. I imagine it might not be exactly the same thing that you want to say yourself.

Remember Jesus’ words when he says, “blessed are the peacemakers.” You are not going to make much peace when you are angry.

Peacemaker or Peacetaker

October 14, 2010 in Weekly Email with 2 Comments

peace.JPGI have been excited about the response from last Sunday’s message. Many of you have come to me to ask questions about it and you are examining the Scriptures. I want to commend you for being like the Bereans that you are not simply taking my word for it, but making sure what I have to say lines up with the Word of God.

This coming Sunday, I have to share what I believe to be an important message. I want to ask you a question. Are you a peacemaker or are you a peacetaker? We might strive to be neutral in conflict, but the reality is that we are going to be one or the other. Our greatest offense is often not the actions we take, but our lack of action.

Life is filled with conflict. Conflict is something that is impossible to avoid. I will tell couples preparing to get married that the absence of conflict is not what makes a great marriage, but rather it is how you handle and deal with that conflict. It is not a matter of if the conflict will come, but when the conflict will come.

If we are truly honest with ourselves most all of us probably do a lot more peacetaking than we do peacemaking. I know I am better at being a trouble maker than I am a problem solver. Being a trouble maker is too often my default and I have caused way too many disputes.

Two Scriptures are instructive here:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9

Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. James 3:18

The work of God is for us, as followers of Jesus, to work to restore what is broken. God has made us ambassadors of reconciliation. We are to work to heal what is hurt, mend what is torn, and build up what is fallen.

If you are not working to build up, then you are working to tear down. When people are at odds, it is your God given responsibility to work as a peacemaker. If you are to follow Jesus it is impossible for you stand on the sidelines and ignore problem.

So be a peacemaker! This Sunday I will talk about how to do that. Hope to see you there.