Peace

"Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9

The american definition of peace is the freedom FROM something. It's the absence of evil, war, strife, etc. Unfortunately we're only experiencing half of the blessing. The peace that is described here includes receiving, enjoying, and to be in the presence of all things good. I think it's so cool that folks in the middle east greet each other with "Saslaam alaikum..." They are wishing peace upon one another! What a great way to start a conversation. Seems so much deeper than a "Hey, what's up?"

Next, the blessing is bestowed upon the one who's making peace... not the one who's just basking in it. It goes to the one who's taking the necessary action to preserve peace, not the one evading or avoiding the issue at hand.

So, what does being a child of God mean? That's another one of those things I've always read and though "Yeah, wow... I want to be that." But never really knew what it all entailed. Apparently, the word 'child' is another way of saying 'son'... and calling someone "a son" of something was the typical way to describe someone. Rather than saying "Joe is a peaceful man..." they would say "Joe is the son of peace..." So this beatitude can be read as "Blessed are the ones who actively pursue peace, for the are doing a God-like action!"

One other interesting note... there are 3 ways to look at pursuing peace.

1. Making the world a better place

2. Conquering your own inner conflict

3. Establishing a right relationship between man and man. This seemed to be the most important pursuit of peace. For it has been said "The man who divided men is doing the devil's work, while the man who unites men is doing God's work."