Live in peace with each other. (1 Thess. 5:13)
Expanded Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:13-15
In elementary school, two of my very best friends got into a fistfight with each other. I remember intervening and one of my friends inadvertently punched me in the face. I ran home with tears running down my cheeks. As I ran into our kitchen, my mom knelt to dry my tears and ask where I was hurt. I remember being so surprised and saying, “Mom, I’m not crying because I got hurt. I’m crying because my friends are fighting.” What my mom said next has never left me. She said, “God has made you to be a peacemaker.” She was right. It is my nature to help others around me.
But the responsibility to help heal and reconcile is not unique to those who are called to be pastors. It is the God-given responsibility of all Christ followers to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9) and to do our best to restore peace and harmony where there is presently conflict and misunderstanding. Not only are we brokers of peace, but we are also to aim to live in peaceful relationships with one another.
Elsewhere in the Bible, we are instructed to live in peace with one another, as much as it depends upon us (Rom. 12:18). The psalmist was right when he said, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity” (Ps. 133:1).
Look for ways to restore peace in your relationships.
Stephen Elliott serves as national superintendent of The Wesleyan Church of Canada and director of the Pastoral Ministry degree program at Kingswood University (CA). He has been happily married to his high school sweetheart since 1975.
© 2026 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
