Blessed are the Peacemakers – Sermon Follow Up
I spoke with a few people after preaching this weekend, and I have gotten a whole lot of feedback so I wanted to take a minute and address a few of the issues that were raised that I did not have time to touch on.
First, while we are supposed to engage in conflict, and embrace conflict in a way that leads to peace we cannot expect peace to immediately replace what we had before. We may have a peace that we are finally facing this issue, but some of us have a lot to work through before we are even able to forgive other people for the sins they have committed. We just need to be willing to walk through the process while holding onto the promise that peace is on the way.
Secondly, when we hold out an olive branch and allow ourselves to be vulnerable we may get rejected. Just because we are pursuing peace doesn’t guarantee that others will join us. It is definitely a noble thing we are doing by offering and seeking forgiveness, but there will be some who will try to knock us down. Some people will choose to hold onto the grudge, and then we are faced with the choice as to whether we get angry or feel sorrow toward them.
Lastly, take baby steps. Get involved with a group of people who will walk you through the steps you need to take in order to forgive or seek forgiveness. You may have lived with this issue for years, so give yourself time. Don’t be discouraged if you just aren’t at the place where you can offer or seek forgiveness. Be confident that as long as you are moving toward the conflict God will eventually get you there, and He will give you PEACE.
Thanks for sharing with me. It was a pleasure sharing with you. Let me know if I can help.
Could you forgive Emmanuel?
It takes great faith to receive forgiveness for our sin, and when our sin can involve the murder of family we most often see family cry for vengeance.
It also takes great faith to grant forgiveness to one who has done the sin…for the family who has lost their loved ones to forgive the repentant murderer.
I wonder which one takes more faith, to live a life forgiven or to live a life forgiving?
After watching this short video it is glaringly apparent that the life Jesus calls us to requires us to answer three questions:
Could I forgive Emmanuel?
Could I walk through forgiveness as he has?
Would I be willing to bring peace between the two?
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wONSfWNgQDA’]
Thanks to POTSC.COM for sharing.
Satisfaction
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; Revelation 7:16 ESV
I often find myself confronted with desires for something else.
We live in the age of instant gratification and entitlement and so it should be no surprise to be bombarded by messages of how life should be.
Just as often; however, I find myself confronted with desires for the status quo.
Neither of those desires are inherently bad, nor inherently good.
What makes those desires bad or good is the seed from which they come, but what blinds us from discovering the seed is the soil, or context, that initiates the growth of those desires.
Often we pursue a change or status quo born out of a wicked seed.
For instance, I may desire a different job, or even just one job. The context that would tend to cloud things for me would include six children, salary, standard of living, free time, pride and location just to name a few.
I might express a desire to get paid more money or to have more free time to spend with my family, but before legitimizing these seemingly good desires I must always realize that I am a sinful and fallen individual. If I am to be like Christ I must sift through the answers I give to the question, “Why?” Most often seeking the counsel of another Christian should be a part of the process of discovering the answer.
When we discover the seed we’ll know if we should proceed.
The next challenge will be discovering the courage to embark.
Where are you feeling this tension? Why are you feeling it? With whom are you sharing it?