When sin entered God’s Magnificent Paradise, our relationship with Him was broken. God’s love for us was so great that He was willing to sacrifice to restore the relationship. God proved He cared about peace when He sent His Son to pay for our sins.
Peace is part of God’s character. And He wants us to reflect peace in our relationships with others. Peace is proving you care more about each other than about winning an argument.
Peace is more than just “not fighting” and saying the right things to keep people happy. Peace is living in a way that shows you care more about others than about being right. It’s about building strong relationships through mutual trust.
The monthly memory verse is: So let us do all we can to live in peace and let us work hard to build each other up, Romans 14:19, NIrV. That is exactly what God did for us when He sent Jesus to make peace with us. Peace cost Him something great, but out of His love for us, He gave His all.
In Week One’s Bible story, Isaac dug wells in his new land (Genesis 26:16-22, 26-31). When his new neighbors argued with him, he had every right to stay and fight but chose to walk away. Our Bottom Line is: Prove you care about others by walking away from a fight. Often, it takes a stronger person to have the self-control to walk away.
In Week Two’s Bible story, Jacob stole Esau’s birthright (Genesis 27, 31-33) taking his inheritance and his place in the family. It wasn’t fair that Jacob took everything from Esau, but Esau eventually let go of his anger and forgave his brother. Our Bottom Line is: Prove you care about others by letting go of “what’s fair.” Preserving the relationship is more important.
In Week Three’s Bible story, Abigail intervenes (1 Samuel 25:1-35) when her husband picks a fight with David. Abigail quickly presented gifts to David to promote peace between the two men. Our Bottom Line is: Prove you care about others by being part of the solution. Creating peace sometimes means stopping an argument before it gets worse.
In Week Four, the Scripture helps us understand the principle of peace (Colossians 1:20; 3:15). It tells us that peace originated with God’s love for us and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us. This week, our Bottom Line is: God proved He cared for us, so we can prove we care for others. Because Christ made peace between God and us, we should strive to let peace rule in our own hearts and lives.
When our relationships are broken, we often find ourselves avoiding other people. We know that we need to work at this relationship, but it’s easier to ignore what’s going on and sweep it under the rug. Working at the relationship is messy. It will cost us something. It will take time.
But peace is worth the effort.
(By Daniel Scott ©2012 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. www.ThinkOrange.com *Used by permission.)
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