Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/doctors/devotion/?day=16&id=devotion&month=12
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Mt 5:9
There is plenty of scope for peacemakers in our hospitals! Living at close quarters with those of differing personalities, outlook, and levels of intelligence and competence can be very difficult, and breeds minor irritations and frustrations easily worsened by thoughtless talk and malicious gossip. Differences of opinion strongly held, competition for advancement or credit, the hint of a smouldering sense of injustice are all made almost intolerable by over-tiredness and the strain of crisis situations.
And we as Christians are called to be peacemakers! Not just those avoiding trouble, but going out of our way to produce peace. Jesus wants us to do something more than `patch up' difference. He wants us so to live as to be bringers of peace and reconciliation, and this involves a change of heart and attitude that must surely begin with us. He has reconciled us to God `making peace by the blood of his Cross' (Col 1:20), and we know the keeping power of a peace of heart which is beyond human understanding (Phil 4:7). He asks us to be his followers in spreading his Gospel of peace, to be communicators or `diffusors' of peace, and this we can only do if we are prepared to lose our concern for ourselves and our own interests.
Our work, our lives and our witness must point to Jesus the Peacemaker, through whom alone we can be at peace with each other, for `Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all -- to you Gentiles who were far away from God, and to the Jews who were near to him. It is through Christ that all of us...are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father' (Eph 2:17-18 GNB).
God promises to own as his children those who are peacemakers. Perhaps, too, those among whom we live and work will recognise that we are, indeed, sons of God.
Further reading: Eph 2:13-22.
JABA
