For Reading and Meditation:
Ephesians 2:11-22
Our meditations over the past few days have shown us that before we can become peacemakers in the true sense of that word, we must first know peace in our own minds and hearts. The Bible is not content to leave the nature of the peace Christ purchased for us in doubt. Our reading today tells us that Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. He bore the sins of men so that those who know Him and accept His meritorious sufferings on the cross need no longer be troubled by them. The greatest message the world has ever heard - or will ever hear - is this: Christ interposed Himself between sinful humanity and a holy God so that men and women could be eternally redeemed. Have you been redeemed? Have you accepted Christ's sacrifice for you on the cross? If so, good - your mission now in life is to be a peacemaker. You are to share His peace with others. A little girl who, a few weeks earlier, had become a Christian came down from her bedroom one morning and said to her mother: "What a beautiful day." The surprised mother said: "What do you mean? It's raining like I've never seen it rain before, and the weather forecast is that we are going to have several more days of this. How can you call such weather beautiful?" "But Mother," the little girl replied, "a beautiful day has nothing to do with the weather." In those simple but powerful words, she reconciled her mother to the weather - and had a more beautiful day herself. You see, this is what peacemaking is all about. The peacemakers make a new world around them and within them.
O Father, help me today to be a peacemaker wherever I go, and to reconcile people, not just to the weather - but to You. That which reaches the heart must come from the heart. Let the peace in my heart overflow. In Jesus' Name. Amen.