PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Hello, Second Monday in December. It’s a work-at-home-and-drink-coffee-in-my-pajamas kind of day. Yay!!! I love days that I don’t have to leave my house! Actually, it’s not that uncommon, but December is always such a busy month, and I love my at-home days. I never get tired of them. Though very few are actually pajama days… I save those for rare occasions/rainy days. As you may have assumed, I am a homebody. You have assumed correctly. I can stay in my house for a full week and never be bored or stir-crazy. I know for some people, that idea is horrifying but for me—it’s peace on earth. And we are in the week of peace for advent, right?!
Today, we’re going to talk about peace. Specifically, peace with others. Or peopling. And sowing peace while we people.
In James 3:17-18 CSB, it says, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.” In short, godly wisdom is full of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—Galatians 5:22-23). Not always easy attributes when you’re peopling.
Peopling opens us up for great blessings and rewards, but it also puts us in the position for misinterpretation, assumptions, and hurt feelings. Because people are people, and all of us are imperfect, we make mistakes. We sow jealousy, bitterness, aggravation, impatience, and pride. And we sow these things both purposefully and not-so-purposefully. But after all this sowing, we wonder why our gardens are producing so much drama. Because all these things we plant produce hurt and anger. Because we’ve sown discord when we should have been sowing peace.
So what’s the solution? Jesus! Isaiah 9:6 calls Him the Prince of Peace and in John 14:27, Jesus said, ““Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful” (CSB).
The best way we can clean up our gardens is to sow the peace that is given to us by Jesus. When we lean on Him, He equips us to be sowers of peace. But when we try to handle things on our own, we fail. We grow the wrong things.
Thankfully, Jesus is a Master Gardner who can fix the weeds. He can pull and prune and discard the bad things, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t left others with a bad taste with the things we’ve grown. Our job is to repent and ask Jesus to sow His goodness and peace.
Today, as you pray, thank Jesus for His peace. Thank Him for being the Prince of Peace. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you lean on Him, and through His great goodness, sow seeds of peace with everyone you meet.
