Live Free with Josh Howerton - Blessed are the Peacemakers | Ep. 81 | Monday May 29, 2023

Episode Date: May 29, 2023

Are you tired of constantly finding yourself in conflicts with the people around you? Do you struggle with maintaining peaceful relationships with those who hold different views or personalities from yours? By recognizing that we are all part of one body and saved by grace, we can avoid judgmental divisions and instead strive to be peacemakers. This not only benefits our relationships but also brings us closer to God, as “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? My name is Mike Bro, and I'm honored to spend a few minutes with you on the Daily Drive podcast. We spend a few minutes every weekday, just getting to know God better.

And we're trying to apply some of his truth and wisdom to our hearts, so thanks so much for joining us grateful for you. Hey, we've been going verse by verse to the letter called Colossians. It's in the back of the New Testament section of the Bible, and it is all about new life. Long before there were the events of the past couple of years, Paul, the writer of this letter was already talking about this thing called a new normal. And we left off last time with him talking about taking off all the nasty clothes we used to wear, lies, slander, anger, lust, envy, all that stuff, and put it on new clothes, like kindness, patience, mercy, forgiveness, and love. Because the new look matches the reality of who we now are. If you missed the last episode,

I encourage you to go back and check it out. And today we'll end on verse 15 where he says this, and let the peace that comes from Christ, rule in your heart. For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace and always be thankful. I used to referee high school and college basketball. I love the game, and I learned a lot about leadership from the time I spent wearing a striped shirt and a whistle.

I learned a whole lot about criticism because every time you blow that whistle and make a call, somebody in that gym thinks you're an idiot. And I learned that you can't please everybody, and I learned to let criticism roll off. And as a leader, sometimes you've got to make a tough call. And honestly, sometimes you blow it, and you need to apologize. But somebody has to make the call.

So Paul here in verse 15, the word he uses there for rule in your hearts actually refers to a referee or an umpire. He's saying, in your relationships with each other, always let the peace of Christ make the call. Before you react, the way you used to react, go to him in the moment for further review and let his humility and his wisdom, his perspective, and his peace rule all your decisions.

He says, this is so important that you let his peace in you make the call because if your heart is not ruled by peace, then you will bring disunity to all of your relationships. You say, I make the call and I'm right. But when you let his peace rule in your own heart, your relationships will be at peace and they will flourish. She says, listen, you're all different, you're all very different.

You have different opinions, different personality types, different tastes, different backgrounds. But now, since you're all members of the same body, live at peace with each other, live in harmony with each other. Let's go back to verse 11. We skipped over it last time. He says, in this new life, it doesn't matter. If you're a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free, Christ is all that matter. and he lives in all of us. Paul's telling these folks, and telling us, we're all saved by grace. All different backgrounds, color, social, standing, heritage, none of that stuff really matters.

Don't let any of that cause judgmental divisions among you because we're in this together, and the ground is level at the foot of the cross. So live at peace with each other. You are one body, you're one team, you've got one heart and one mind. So when it comes down to a potentially divisive issue, he says, Let peace be the referee in your heart. Let peace make the call. Let harmony, unity, oneness.

Let that be your default. You know, I'm guessing today that we will all encounter difficult people. Some of them will be more difficult than others. But let's not be counted among the difficult ones. Let's allow peace to rule in our heart today. You know, Jesus one time said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. People will see your peace.

He's thinking, oh, they must, they must walk with God. So let's just go be that today. It's our new normal. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out. For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe.com slash daily drive.