And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness. James 3:18 (NLT)

Peacemakers are not peacekeepers.

The critical difference is the peacekeeper seeks to keep the peace by maintaining a delicate balance between factions at war; the peacemaker seeks to create peace by invading the conflict with love.

Peacemakers are much like the dentist described by C.S. Lewis in, Mere Christianity. You come to the dentist with a toothache and all you want him to do is alleviate the pain, but, if he’s a good dentist, then he’ll insist he’s got to go in and eliminate what is causing the pain. This means you may experience, momentarily, more pain than you already have, but, in the long-run, you’re tooth will be healed.

Lewis used this analogy to describe the way that Jesus works.

Jesus is a peacemaker. He enters our conflict with God, bringing an aggressive love that simply will not stop until we make peace with God.

We, too, are called to be peacemakers, helping others make peace with God, and then helping them make peace with each other. We do this by entering their lives with an aggressive love that will not end.

We invade with a peace that is based on faith: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (Romans 5:1 NIV).

We proclaim that peace with God comes through an unconditional surrender, but that God, the one and only, is benevolent in victory, able to say, “Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34 NIV).

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