If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18
“I’m sorry.” There may be no two words more difficult to utter. Doing so requires a willingness to examine ourselves, come to grips with our behavior, and take responsibility. Although admitting our faults to another when we have injured them isn’t easy, we’re usually pretty sure that they’ll forgive us. Living at peace always requires humility.
But there are times when reality is a lot more complex, and scary. What if we’ve already apologized and been forgiven for this particular sin, and now we’ve done it again and once more need to make it right? Maybe the offended party won’t accept our apology this time. Living at peace sometimes requires great courage.
Or what if there is a rupture in a relationship that, as far as we can tell, our behavior did not cause? How, in these situations, are we to respond? Should we ever have to say “sorry” for something we didn’t do? Living at peace may require great maturity.
Not surprisingly, Jesus had something to say about how to live at peace. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shares his expectations of how his followers are to behave. In Matthew 5 we’re told that if someone slaps us on the right cheek, to also offer our left cheek. If sued for our shirt, we are to give our coat as well. If forced to walk one mile, willingly go a second mile. Rather than simply loving our neighbors, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who hate us. Furthermore, if we simply reserve our love and kind treatment only for our friends and those who are like us, Jesus says we are no better than the pagans.
Wait a minute! This teaching is hard. Too hard. God can’t possibly expect us to die to ourselves in this way, can he? In fact he does. And in doing so, he is not asking any more from us than he already gave. Consider the earthly life of Jesus as told by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. God not only “made him who had no sin to be sin for us,” but also reconciled “the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (Acts 5:19, 21).
PONDER: In what broken relationships is God calling you to die to yourself in order that you have done everything possible to live at peace?
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42
The highest recognition of athletic accomplishment is the retirement of your uniform number. Only one man in sports history has had this happen across every major league team in his sport. An even more amazing honor is that every year on April 15, every baseball player wears the number 42 honoring Jackie Robinson, the first player to break baseball’s color barrier.
Jackie Robinson’s mother was a godly example, but his father abandoned the family. When Jackie began to get into trouble, a local pastor intervened. He became a father figure to Jackie as he counseled him and challenged him to grow in his faith. Jackie’s reputation as a nondrinking, morally upright man while playing in the Negro League, caught the attention of Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Rickey, also a devout Christian, years earlier had witnessed racial prejudice when he was a college coach. Forty years later, Rickey asked Jackie to join his team. He also asked Jackie to commit to three years of “turning the other cheek.” He wanted a player with enough guts not to retaliate. Jackie decided he was up to the challenge and became the first African American to play in the major leagues.
Twenty years before Martin Luther King Jr. taught nonviolent resistance, Jackie Robinson was living it every day. As he endured the ridicule of players on opposing teams and the insults of the people in the stands, he won the respect of his fellow teammates. In his book Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness, Eric Metaxas recounts a signature moment in baseball history:
At one game in Cincinnati, when spectators in the stand were shouting racist comments at Robinson, his teammate Pee Wee Reese pointedly walked over to him and put his arm around him, as though to say to the bigots in the crowd “if you are against him, you’re against all of us.”
Robinson played ten seasons, starting in the All-Star Game during six consecutive seasons. He led his team to six World Series appearances. This National League MVP and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame changed America through his example of living out the revolutionary teaching of Jesus before a watching world.
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Father, why is it so hard for me to say I’m sorry? Maybe it’s because it requires humility, one of the most difficult attributes to master…Lord Jesus, give me the courage to say that I’m sorry. If I am to be your ambassador of reconciliation and forgiveness I can not be afraid to humble myself before my brother and sister and ask for their forgiveness even if they reject me or even worse despise me…Holy Spirit, I understand that as you guide me to maturity, I may have to apologize even if it was not me that cause the wrong. Obedience to your counsel means that there will be times when you will call me to represent the failure of another, just like Christ did, I am willing to do that Precious Counselor of God…Lord God, how much do I have to die today so that I can live at peace with my brother and sister?
Amen…
Thank you so much for this website and these articles from this series. I love them all! They are so inspiring and insiteful, I just can’t wait for the next one to arrive!
What a beautiful lesson!! Thank you for this devotional. They have been of great teaching. We need to constantly ask our Lord to help us to humble and observe a reconciliation life style. It honors God!
I am in love with the photograph of the ltitle girl playing the piano next to the wedding gown. I love children and weddings so, to me, it is the most beautiful image. You’re a talented photographer for sure! I will be visiting your blog often. Your pictures are wonderful.