Show Each Other Peace

Verses: James 3 : 13 - 18

My thoughts about the verses:

We must use righteous wisdom when we work with people.  We need to express Gods love through our actions.  We need to bring peace to those that want to fight.  We need to bring compassion to those that are lost.  We need to love all people.  We need to understand that we may be different but that doesn’t mean we can judge others.  We have to accept people the way they are.  When you use this wisdom things move smoothly.

Yet, lets point out many people do not use righteous wisdom when interacting with the world.  This has led to a world full of war.  People are fighting because of their differences.  People use words and violence to attempt to change other people.  Violence is used to settle conflicts. 

The problem is that this is in direct conflict with what we are taught.  We are taught to love each other.  We are taught that we should turn the other cheek and not fight each other.  We are taught to forgive those that have hurt us.  We are taught that peace is the solution to the problems that we face.

I am thinking today about the 21 Christians who were beheaded in Libya.  They weren’t beheaded because they did anything wrong.  They were not punished because they had hurt others.  They went to their death because they were different than those around them.  They went to their death because their religion was different than the radical group ISIS.

The sad part is that many people believe that ISIS represents the views of the Islamic community.  This is very far from the truth.  Most Muslims believe in peace and love.  They worship with a pure heart and want the same things as most Christians. 

We must remember this when we think about the Islamic Community.  The ones that are fighting are going against the very principles of Islam.  We must make sure that we do not judge all Muslims because of the radical attitudes of a few.

Righteous wisdom leads to an environment that is full of peace.  We have to remember that we live in a world where people do not act with righteous wisdom.  Therefor we remember to help others by reaching across barriers.  We have to live all times using righteous wisdom to guide our life.

We have to come to the point that we accept people the way they are.  We do not need to change people.  Instead we must love them and try to share peace throughout the world.  When we see people that are not acting with a pure spirit we must help them overcome their choices.  We have to spread God’s message of love and peace into a world that is fighting.  Keeping this in mind we must pray for those that are not walking with righteous wisdom.

Prayer:

Dear God we thank you for your love.  We thank you for walking with us each day.  Help us to be peacemakers.  Help us to love people just the way they are.  Help us to remember that people should not be judged by the actions of others of the same group.  In the name of the Peacemaker we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Are you using righteous wisdom in your life?  Are you reaching across barriers to bring peace?  Do you love people for who there are?