Peace not wrath

Jas 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Them that make peace.

Jas 1:20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Our wrath cannot work God's righteousness. Reading that truth it makes you wonder how so many use their wrath as a form of teaching, as a form of preaching God's word, as a form of spreading the good news of the gospel. They raise their children and run their households with what they call the 'fear of God' as their tool. Don't they realize that OUR wrath is NOT God's wrath and if we claim we have God's wrath at our disposal to disperse as we will, then we are deluding ourselves. The righteousness of God is of God, not US or anything we do. Any wrath that we exhibit is not part of God's righteousness. Yes, there is a justified anger we can possess but we have to realize that anger is subject to God, God will judge our anger and if we use that anger selfishly, in any ungodly way it's NOT of God!

Peacemakers are blessed! Not fear-makers, not wrath-makers. Peacemakers are truly blessed.

Only the chastening that comes from God will create peace in us. We cannot PLAY God! We cannot presume to know what God would do. We have to fall on our knees and pray for understanding, for His guidance in all things.

Is there wrath in your life? What qualifies as wrath?

Greek definition-
1. anger, the natural disposition, temper, character
2. movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any violent emotion, but esp. anger
3. anger, wrath, indignation
4. anger exhibited in punishment, hence used for punishment itself
a. of punishments inflicted by magistrates

Wrath.

Again I ask, is there wrath in your life? Take a moment to think about it, really think about it as you read that definition.

Any VIOLENT emotion.
Even INDIGNATION is wrath.
TEMPER.

Do we possess any emotions that could be considered violent?
Do we possess any indignation- something we love to call righteous indignation- saying we have the RIGHT to exhibit anger, to feel wrath because of the situation.
How does our temper fare? Do we have what is known as a short fuse? Does our temper flare up? Do we have a temper that is slow to burn but once it gets going it's a bonfire?

There is so much anger in us, so much wrath in us and we've come to call it righteous, we've come to believe it's okay to have this in us, that it's fine because it's righteous- we are in the right, we are being slighted, hurt, abused, tortured, cheated, and so on and so forth. We make excuses for our wrath and say we are just human and that is all the excuse we need. In truth we HAVE to beg for forgiveness for any wrath we possess, it's NOT okay, it's NOT fine, it's NOT something that is overlooked. Like any sin, we have to confess and repent of it and seek our Lord and Savior, seek the Holy Spirit's guidance and help where we feel completely helpless against our own besetting sins.

Jas 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

IF we MAKE peace then the fruit of righteousness will be sown in that peace.

PEACE in our lives, NOT WRATH.

PEACE making peace, seeking peace, having peace in our lives.

All too often peace will disappear and discord will fill our lives.

We long for peace don't we? The peace of God.

We can't mistake getting our own selfish way, our own selfish desires as having peace and yet so many do. As long as things are going the way we like we claim that we have peace. We need the peace of our Savior to see us through all the strife in our lives. While the world around us seems to thrive on strife we need to hold fast to the peace of God in ALL aspects of our lives and we can have this ONLY through HIS GRACE!

Please Lord help us to have the peace You would have us possess and not wrath. We want the fruit of righteousness to be sown in peace, in us as we make peace all through YOU!

Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Amen.