Be Still And Know

Matthew 5:9 “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” In this beatitude Jesus isn’t talking about being peace-lovers but peace-makers, which is very different. A peace-lover will often do anything to avoid conflict, and will even allow bad behaviour to continue because of the desire to ‘keep the peace’. Sadly, that kind of attitude does nothing to bring healing and can easily lead to a situation becoming far worse. Peace-making is the tough task of not turning away from conflict but, in the name of Christ, deliberately facing it and seeking to bring God’s miraculous gift of peace. Robert V Taylor, the President of the Desmond Tutu Foundation, wrote: “If you want peace, don’t talk to your friends, talk to your enemies.” I suspect we all dislike conflict. We hate it when voices are raised, people storm out of meetings or there are broken relationships. It’s exhausting, discouraging and sad. But it’s also very common, and always has been. That’s precisely