Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to "Joni and Friends"!
Okay, what is it, the first or second week of school now that a new semester has started? And as school starts, kids are engaging in that universal rite‑‑the classroom fight. Some will fight with words. Some of us will fight with crayons or erasers. The more sophisticated will fight by creating political alliances with other playground buddies to ward off the offending party.
Of course, I never fought. Just ask my sisters. They were always fighting with each other, but I was never involved - okay, maybe once, twice at most. But, hey, I'm older now. I never fight - oh, all right, I do stir up my fair share of arguments. After all, we're creatures of conflict. And churches, like playgrounds, provide ample opportunities for strife.
And boy isn’t that the way it seems in the world right now? Everybody seems angry, don’t they? People from the left, people from the right are at each other’s throats as never before. Go to any cable news show and you just have to turn the channel for everybody yelling on top of one another. Oh, how we long for peace and quiet in our world… in our places of work even where so many people seem to have a spirit of entitlement, where there’s so much conflict and competition. We need peace… we need to have things straightened out the right way. And the Bible has something to say about this in James 3:18.
It says there that "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." When it comes to changing the angry landscape and growing a harvest of righteousness; that is, right living, God chose peace as the seed to be planted… why? Because righteousness – that is “right living” -- can't grow where there is discord. Unrighteousness spreads like weeds in an environment where there is no peace or uncertainty or anxiety. Evil loves discontent; evil loves restlessness. Mind you, the book of James doesn’t use the word “peacekeepers”... It’s not peacekeepers who raise a harvest of righteousness, who bring about right living in an environment, no, it’s “peacemakers.” People who try to get rid of strife through kowtowing, compromising, or weakening their principles fail in bringing about a deep and lasting peace.
But peacemaking runs deeper than peacekeeping. To sow the seed of peace is to press a truth very gently but firmly into the soil of another’s heart. When peace prevails, then that which is “right;” that is, right living or righteousness is given room to grow. Things begin to change. Anger dissipates. Resentment and discord dissolves because we are then able to see circumstances for what they are. We are able to choose the right path. We are able to see the right point of view. So think again about the Bible verse I mentioned: how peace is a seed to be sown… how if you want to see righteousness flourish in your home or among your circle of friends, or in your neighborhood… just remember that powerful seed in your hand.
Today, friend, please join me in sowing peace in the midst of a sinful world that is too contentious to discern right from wrong. Speak words of peace to those in your church who have lost their sense of what love is and who loves them dearly. Make peace between rival factions and watch discord begin to dissipate – then, strangers in your midst can be wooed to the Righteous One. At work, do things that make for peace… resolve conflicts where you can… and, oh, what a happier work environment you’ll have because your co-workers will want to do what’s right. It’s a hurting world… an angry unsettled one and God is looking for peacemakers… to plant a harvest of righteousness that’ll change this world forever.
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