The Pointe

Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
                                                                                                               James 3:18

In today’s politically correct world, we often make the mistake of being peacekeepers rather than peacemakers. A peacekeeper is one who says, “Oh, I can’t ruffle feathers. I can’t step on any toes. I have got to keep everybody happy and keep the waters calm.”

If you are a peacekeeper, though, nothing will ever change. You will end up listening to worldly wisdom and wasting your life trying to maintain the status quo.

Instead, God challenges us to be peacemakers. A peacemaker is someone who is willing to speak the truth to those around them, even if it means upsetting the status quo.

To be a peacemaker, you must care deeply for those people who are in the wrong. And you must be willing to show them the truth about what they are doing. Don’t judge people. But be willing to show them the truth and then talk to them about the fact that God loves them and wants them to discover the true peace that is only available through Jesus Christ.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is… impartial and sincere.James 3:17

Sadly, in today’s world, Christianity gets a bad rap because many Christians are insincere. They say one thing, yet do another. And it results in one of the biggest excuses people have for not going to church: “It’s full of hypocrites.”

The word hypocrite means a play-actor, one who wears a mask. Many people try to convince the world that they are Christ followers only to turn around and take the mask off when they think no one is looking.

True sincerity, though, is seen when no one is watching. How do you behave behind the scenes, when no one you know is watching you? Make sure that you are sincere in all that you do—even when you think no one is watching, because God always is. 

Tell me what you think…

Throughout the Bible, Christians are charged with ‘producing fruit.’ Basically, that means that what we do reveals the fact that we are Christ followers, that we’ve taken that faith step to trust Jesus with our eternity. It doesn’t mean that we can earn our salvation. Salvation comes by faith. The good fruit, though, is what helps others recognize Jesus in our lives.
    And when it comes to producing spiritual fruit, we have three options: peels, plastic or produce.

If we have only peels in our lives, then we are hoarding the fruit for ourselves and not sharing with others what God has shown us.

If we display only plastic fruit, then we are showing the world a false picture of what the Christian life is all about.

What Jesus calls us to produce is healthy, organic, wholesome fruit. We should be nourishing the people around us with the truth of God’s Word and sharing it so others see a clear picture of what following Jesus is about.

So as you go through your day, don’t keep God’s truth to yourself. And try not to display a false picture of Jesus to those around you. Instead, realize that you have been given the “wisdom that comes from heaven” and that people around you are desperately seeking that nutrition.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate…James 3:16-17
When you think about being “peace-loving” and “considerate,” think about the different aspects of the cross. The cross has a vertical aspect to it; it also has a horizontal aspect.Once we bow the knee to Christ and place our faith in him, we secure a vertical relationship with God. And because that vertical relationship has been established, we now have the ability and desire to work on our horizontal relationships—those relationships with the people around us. It is then that we will reach out to others in peace and consideration.

To get the most out of this life and make the most of the relationships we have, we need to recognize the fact that we are called to be peace-loving and considerate with those around us. So as you go through each day, remember that your relationship with God has been established. And ask him to help you keep peace and be considerate with the people you meet every day.

Several years ago in an interview during his battle with cancer, theologian Francis Schaeffer said, “The only way to be foolishly happy in this world is to be young enough, well enough, and have money enough—and not give a care about other people. But as soon as you don’t have any of the first three, or if you have compassion for the weeping world around you, then it is impossible to have the foolish kind of happiness that I believe some Christians present as Christianity.”

What is our greatest need in life? Is it to be happy? We may long for a change in our circumstances, and sometimes that’s what we get. But a changed life is our deepest need. Changed circumstances may make us happier, but a changed life will make us better, for it will make us like Christ.

• Ever notice that when your cup of happiness is full, somebody always jogs your elbow?
• Happiness is not the end of life; character is. - H. W. Beecher
• There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. - Robert Louis Stevenson
• Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it. - Nathaniel Hawthorne