“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:18
Looking back to the beginning of chapter 3, James started by warning us about the danger of the tongue and the importance of taming it before moving on to talk about wisdom.
He talks about the wisdom of the world in contrast to heavenly wisdom and then closes the chapter with this verse about “peacemakers”.
Near as I can tell, there are only two places in the bible that mention the term “peacemakers”. As we spoke about yesterday, we see it in the beatitudes in Matthew 5:9 then here again in James. The peacemakers that Jesus is speaking about are the same peacemakers that James is talking about.
They were on the mount; they were the dispersed Jewish Christians. They were in Rome, Constantinople, Athens, and Patmos. They are in Cleveland, Chennai, Bogota and Wayne County. They were them and they are you and I.
Remember Sister Ruth saying that the Beatitudes were worth remembering because they should “be your attitudes”? Jesus wasn’t just talking to the audience gathered that day for the Sermon on the Mount anymore than James was talking to Jewish converts to Christianity. They were talking to all future hearers as well. They were making promises to you and me that IF we are peacemakers we would be:
- Blessed
- Be called children of God
- Reap a harvest of righteousness
I have a pretty good idea of what being blessed is, and being called a child of God, but what in the world does it mean to “reap a harvest of righteousness”? Well, it’s… HEAVEN.
“And this is my prayer; that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11, NIV.
So, as we embrace the wisdom of heaven and our role as peacemakers in this world through Jesus, we have the promise of blessing, being part of God’s family and living in Heaven with him, eternally. These promises are for all of us!
Pray
Father God, thank you for the many promises that You have made to me. Teach me to be faithful in both the seen and unseen. Change my heart if it needs changing, I want to be more like You. Help me to see Jesus in others and help me to see and respond to the need around me. Thank You, God, for Your presence in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
