So here are the headlines on my BBC app this morning:
Russia braces for latest Navalny protests; EU and UK ‘reset’ relations after NI vaccine row; Trump ‘parts with lawyers’ before Senate trial; Rashford racially abused on social media; I was scammed out of £17,000 on Instagram; Situation in CAR’s encircled capital ‘apocalyptic’.
Tomorrow will be similar and the day after. A world at war with itself from nations to neighbours.
Since the beginning of time the blood of Abel cries towards heaven.
Can you remember why the Flood came? It was corruption and violence (Genesis 6:11)
Violence grieves the heart of God.
If the Beatitudes were a list to try and achieve then I, even in Christ and with Him by my side have failed every one of these. The Beatitudes are teachings from Jesus that are far more about the person we are and where we find ourselves than what we do.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5 v 9)
This may have been a shock to those waiting for a Messiah to come and overturn the Roman Empire and establish a new kingdom.
Are you a peacemaker?
If you are then you will have stories of finding yourself in an uncomfortable place. In the middle. Being in the middle sometimes causes both sides to dislike you. In fact I have known times when the opposing sides allied against me, the peacemaker.
So let’s be reminded on how God dealt with the violent world. He first sent Moses with the Law and the prophets to speak His Word and priests to bring atonement. All of it was lacking. The greatest enmity between God and the world was still there.
So He came Himself.
On the cross, arms stretched out, Jesus became the Peacemaker. He experienced the wrath of God and the slander of the world on the Cross of Peace.
Is this you in a lesser version?
Then yours is the kingdom and therefore happiness is yours for you are known as a child of God. God is seen in you, in the painful place of the middle.
Missions Paul 