Running With God

Get the Log Out

I am very grateful for the 147 people who gathered on Saturday for The Peacemaker Seminar. We learned about the 4 G’s of Peacemaking:

1. Glorify God
2. Get the Log Out of Your Own Eye
3. Gently Restore
4. Go and Be Reconciled

Most of us will agree that we want God to be glorified through conflict. But the hard part is doing second “G” work. The image comes from Jesus.

And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

 

Are you willing to take responsibility for your part of conflicts? The most challenging thing I heard during the seminar was this quote: “Remember, even if you’re responsible for just 2% of the conflict, Jesus says you’re 100% responsible for your 2%. That your ‘log.’”

 

What questions do you have about biblical peacemaking? And if you attended the seminar, what did you find the most challenging?

An Instrument of Peace

The following prayer by Francis of Assisi hangs on my office wall:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

These words have special significance as we begin our journey this week with Peacemaker Ministries. So I'm asking everyone at South Park Church to commit to praying the first line of that prayer daily for the next 14 days. Beginning Sunday, April 19, and running through Saturday, May 2, I'm asking you to pray the following words until they get inside of you and change you:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace."

If you want to join this peace movement of prayer, send me a comment. I promise to read every comment that comes in and post some that might prove helpful to others. You can simply leave a note saying you'll be praying. Or you can share more specifically what you hope God will do through our partnership with Peacemaker Ministries.

Shalom.

Let's hear your thoughts about peace

What image comes to mind when you think of peace? Is peace found lying on a beach as the sun sets? Is peace experienced in remote woods away from traffic and airplane noise? Or is peace achieved when the kids are in bed and finally asleep?

Peace can be experienced in these ways. But peace from the Bible's perspective is more than the absence of stress and conflict. It is more than the presence of serenity. Biblical peace is the restoration of harmonious relationships with God, others, and the creation.

Peace is what God had in mind when he set in motion his plan culminating in Jesus death and resurrection. Paul says in Colossians 1:19-20:

For God in all his fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,

and through him God reconciled

everything to himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

People who are reconciled to God through Christ's blood are the recipients of peace. And that peace should progressively characterize our lives.

 

I laid it on the line in last week's message asking everyone who calls South Park Church their home to come to the Peacemaker Seminar on April 25th. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this event. What do you hope we'll gain from this training?