Your Silence Isn't Punishing Them—It's Poisoning You

We all have points in our life where we get our wires crossed with other folks. What I do as a peacemaker—well, what I used to do—was just remove myself from a situation. I'm just going to ghost.

Matthew 5:9 is the text that I preached this past Sunday. And as I was studying for it, just as clear as day, the Lord spoke to me in my heart: "How are you going to preach and encourage a congregation of Christians to be peacemakers when you're not really a peacemaker?"

I wasn't seeking to create turmoil or strife. I was just removing myself. But that is not peacemaking. That is peace hoping.

I wasn't obedient that day, not much to my surprise—or probably not a lot of people's surprise. I wasn't obedient the next day either. But the next day, when I was driving down Highway 160, this road around right out here, I had enough. The conviction was just so hard, and I picked up my phone and I said, "We gotta get together. We gotta talk about this."

We did.

I'm gonna tell you, the Lord blessed it. He instilled and reinstilled peace. There's just something about having peace in your life.

"God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called children of God."

Peacemaking is not passive. Peacemaking is an active thing.

Sometimes we convince ourselves that avoiding conflict is the same as creating peace. But there's a profound difference between peace hoping and peacemaking. One requires courage, conversation, and the willingness to step into uncomfortable spaces. The other simply hopes the problem will disappear if we ignore it long enough.

True peace isn't the absence of conflict—it's the presence of resolution. And that requires us to show up, speak up, and work through the mess together.

Story Credit: Phillip

See the full story here: https://youtu.be/SF_RVjRBCqk