Pursue Peace

In 1 Peter chapter 3, in the middle of some guidance for Christians facing situations of conflict, we get a quotation from Psalm 34: "let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it." (1 Pet 3:11/Ps 34:14)

He doesn't say "welcome peace whenever it happens to come along." 

He doesn't say "live in peace once the fighting is over, or in between fights." 

He says to pursue peace. Seek it. 

I've been deeply involved in the lives of several churches over the last 20 years. I've seen conflicts. I've seen peace. I've also seen that Christians often don't prioritize peace the way 1 Peter and Psalm 34 do. What these verses describe (and command) is an active pursuit. Peace is something we're called to work at and strive for. 

Peace is not something that's nice while it lasts or something that we should encourage and enjoy—until we have a good reason to dispense with it. That's how we begin to see peace when we're prioritizing other things. That's how I see peace when I'm busy seeking to be right, to get my way, to make them understand, to enforce conformity to my perspective. But Peter doesn't tell us to seek any of those things. He tells us to seek peace. To pursue it.

A couple weeks back, I said that if your "faithfulness" leads you to be quarrelsome, then it's not faithfulness at all. That's because there's a difference between being in agreement with scripture on principles or beliefs, and prioritizing the things that scripture prioritizes in practice. If you're willing to sacrifice peace on the altar of being faithful to scripture, what you've actually sacrificed is the faithfulness you professed. Attacking others, maligning them, encouraging divisions, bursting out in anger, these are the acts of the flesh (Gal 5:20), not the fruit of the Spirit. They're not indications that God is at work—just the opposite.

But so often, we don't care if we're bearing the fruit of the Spirit, or if we're fighting for the Bible in ways that are biblical. We only care about winning. Whether or not Jesus would consider that a "win" isn't a question we ask.

If we want to handle conflicts in a way that is faithful to scripture, we have to navigate them as people who are pursuing peace. Key to that are the things 1 Peter 3:8-9 mention: unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, tender hearts, humble minds, and a refusal to return fire or to try to get even.

What if, in situations of conflict in our churches, workplaces, or homes, we continually, deliberately sought to cultivate habits and attitudes like those? What if we championed what is true and what is right only and always in ways that pursue peace? I believe a commitment like that would revolutionize the way conflicts are addressed and radically transform the aftermath of our conflicts in churches and other areas of life. 

If we're willing to give it a try.

Listen to this week's devotional!