Makers vs. Keepers

Matt. 5:⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.” (MSG)

For you to take bold steps and move your relationships to the next level, you have to go through the A.B.C. of relationships. You have to Ask. You have to Believe. And you have to Confront. You need to confront yourself. You need to confront your friends. You need to confront your siblings. You need to confront your colleagues. You need to confront your spouse. I know we are different; some personalities tend to find confrontation easy, but other personalities do not like confrontation. However, regardless of your personality, the truth remains that there can be no lasting peace without confrontation. The best you will have is the peace of the graveyard, where everywhere is quiet but there are dead bones buried inside. You will not have the peace of the graveyard; you will have the peace of God in your life in the Name of Jesus.

Matt.5:⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (NIV, emphasis added). In this passage, Jesus shows us something extremely profound as He points out that it is about peace making and not peace keeping. Peace keeping forces are not to engage in military combat. Peacekeepers are just to maintain the status quo and report what is on ground. Peacemakers, on the other hand, engage in combat to bring about lasting peace in the situation. So, what are you tending towards? If it is peace keeping, you are not going to get peace really. It is peace-making that produces lasting peace. Have you heard people say, let me just keep quiet for ‘peace sake’? Check your Bible, there is nowhere that it is written, ‘keep quiet for peace-sake’. For your relationships to go to the next level, for you to take bold steps in your relationships, you have to confront issues.

Either you have a personality that is tilted towards confrontation or one that is tilted away from confrontation but you will have to confront issues. However, most times we do not even do confrontation properly. For those who are tilted towards confrontation, what they do is bashing, and not really confrontation. To really confront issues, you need to understand what confrontation means. The word confront is from two root words; con which is to come together and front which means face to face. Therefore, to confront is to come together face to face for the purpose of unity. The key to unity is confrontation. Research actually shows that the people who do not like confrontation are not cowards. I used to think they were, but they are not.

The research shows that people who do not like confrontation do not like being rejected, isolated, or ostracized. They believe that confrontation can cost them their relationship or prevent it from being where it is supposed to be. Some are just enjoying the phase of their relationship and do not want to stir the waters, so they rather not confront issues.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace and the courage to be a peacemaker, to confront issues with the goal of lasting unity and peace in focus, in Jesus Name. Amen!