One of the ways we can determine whether we are people of peace or not, is whether we easily entertain things said about us from other people.  Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers”, because people who seek peace, don’t immediately entertain drama that can cause division.  In fact they seek to rectify it face to face, for the sake of peace and unity!

King Saul’s jealousy of David, caused him to entertain what others said, how David felt about him.  But why wouldn’t King Saul ask David?  Because Saul never wanted peace to begin with!  He just wanted to destroy David because he was jealous.  King Saul allowed his jealousy of David, to consume him so much so, that he made his purpose about killing David, and not God’s Kingdom…

David on the other hand, had a totally different spirit than Saul.  David had an opportunity to fulfill what people told him, but didn’t.  Why?  Because David was a peacemaker, and refused to make the Kingdom of God about himself.  Which is why God replaced Saul with David as King.  David lived to promote peace, even when others wanted to encourage division, he confronted Saul to dispel the “gossip” for unity sake…

When we entertain what we heard about people, and allow that to be our “information” we don’t want peace, but actually are “o.k.” with division.  If the gospel is ever going to be relevant in everyday life, we should seek to understand people, not entertain what we think we know about them.  Because like King Saul, we may have wrong information, and live in such fear and division, that we never seek to know David’s heart.

Challenge yourself whether, are you a “mirage for peace” in being known as a Christian, but don’t challenge what you “entertain” about people?  Which keeps us divided from people at the heart level, and keeps us from being genuine…

In His Love, Ld