Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9 NKJ)

Is there a difference between peace-making and pacifist?  The dictionary defines a pacifist as, “a person who believes in pacifism or is opposed to war or to violence of any kind.”  That same dictionary defines peace-maker in terms of action rather than just a belief. It states that a peace-maker is, “a person, group, or nation that tries to make peace, especially by reconciling parties who disagree, quarrel, or fight.”

Perhaps then the Christian peacemaker should go further than just responding to a situation and become more pro-active in bringing to be Kingdom principles of love, peace, and righteousness, and as I have stated before, righteousness in the Old Testament is intrinsically linked to justice.  We should be more pro-active, and the idea of war for a Christian should be absurd.

“The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Therefore, justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness!” (Isa 59:8-9 NKJ)

As Christians we need to reconcile our thoughts and actions with those of the gospel, they are not separate.  We’re told to love God, love our brother, even our neighbor and yes, our enemies too.  Hezbollah, the terrorist group in Lebanon, won the hearts and minds of the people, not with gun, but providing food, aid and medical care. The American president, Dwight Eisenhower said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and who are not clothed.”

A peace-maker should be about the ministry of reconciliation, working in our societies to find common ground.  Looking for those areas where we can agree and join together, rather than separate.