Opportunities for Peace

In many ways my husband and I are alike. We each enjoy nature, hiking, music, exercise, family time, funny (clean) movies, and most of all, God’s Word.

In other ways, however, we differ. One discrepancy manifests itself in our philosophies about possessions.

I hold to the adage, “A place for everything . . .”

But JB believes in, “A thing for every place!”

At times, these two credos clash. I am bothered when areas of the house look cluttered, and JB is not happy when, in one of my dejunking sprees, I inadvertently throw out some item he wants!

We’ve been working this out for more than thirty years, and I still haven’t fully persuaded JB to see the benefits of simplifying. Nor has he convinced me to be a saver. So we compromise. I learn to live with “more” and he learns to live with “less”.

We’ve decided that being at peace is more important than being right.

Working towards relational peace is a biblical mandate. Achieving peace does require work and often involves exercising patience and forgiveness. For instance, Colossians 3:13 instructs us:

Bear with one another, and forgive each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

One of the hardest places to walk this out is in the home.

And I will be the first to tell you that I’ve made LOTS of mistakes. At times I’ve felt as if I could never apologize enough! But when a family member makes a mistake or rubs me the wrong way, it gives me an opportunity to practice forgiveness and grace.

One of the greatest gifts God has given people is that of choice. We’re empowered to choose how we’ll interpret any given situation.

I’m not denying that extremely unfair and ungodly things occur under some roofs. But there are far more cases of someone taking offense where none was intended. When I discover that I have unintentionally hurt someone in my family, it’s my duty to try to work things out.

Living at peace is every individual’s responsibility.

God instructs us many times to make peace a primary goal in our lives:

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. (Romans 12:18)

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. (Romans 14:19)

Pursue peace with all men. (Hebrews 12:14a)

Notice that these verses put the responsibility of living at peace on our shoulders, not God’s, and not the other person’s. And while not everyone will respond to our attempts at reconciliation, we can still humble ourselves and try. Often all we need is a different perspective.

God wants peace to be a priority in our hearts and our homes. If we simply ask, He will give us HIS perspective to help us live in peace.