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Pursue Peace

Let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. (Romans 14:19)

Peace doesn’t happen by accident. We must pursue the things that make for peace. Human beings naturally quarrel and manipulate to get what they want. However, it takes effort to resist our impulses, rest in the gospel of peace, and pursue the things that produce harmony in our relationships. In the early church, strife among Christians seemed to arise often around special foods, holy days, and rules of Christian conduct.

The gospel declares that we are forgiven and reconciled to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, not by our ability to keep the law. We are saved by faith in Jesus, not by keeping religious rules. Judging one another according to the foods we eat and the clothes we wear does not build up. It tears down. Condemning one another over using different Bible translations does not edify. It discourages.

Be careful with your opinions, your preferences. If the Lord does not explicitly command something of every Christian, then you must not demand it of every Christian either. Be willing to put the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ ahead of your own. Pursue the things that produce peace and harmony.