“Blessed Are the Peacemakers”

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” -Matthew 5:9 (KJV)

     “Shalom!” is a Hebrew greeting that has several meanings, the most important of which is to wish personal well-being, prosperity, bodily health and peace to the one greeted. In the mountains where I grew up, when we met our friends and neighbors, we were likely to say, “I hope things are well with you and yours!” That, in our vernacular, was saying and wishing “Shalom!” to them.

     Jesus taught us in this beatitude that peacemakers are blessed and are called the children of God, for God is the Master Peacemaker, He brings peace to believers, and wants us to be agents of peace in the world. Instead of hatred and strife, He taught us how to pursue a better way. A peacemaker is not static, hoping that peace will come. Instead, he is actively working to bring reconciliation where there is hatred and enmity.

     Those who work for peace are sharing in Christ’s ministry of bringing reconciliation out of trouble. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, we learn that a peacemaker is part of our Christian way of life. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” Paul also teaches in Ephesians 2:14 that the Christian is an agent of peace: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” Paul further admonishes Christians to be a peacemaker in Colossians 1:19-20: “For to Him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

     St. Francis of Assisi lived and worked in the 13th century A. D. He left behind an often-quoted prayer that has been set to lofty music. The words of His prayer formulate the idea in the seventh Beatitude.

“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

May we sincerely pray this prayer and have in our hearts the genuine commitment to be instruments of peace in our troubled world. Thus we can help to fulfill Jesus’ command and promise: “Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. -Ethelene Dyer Jones 10.23.2016

The Christian as Salt

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” -Matthew 5:13 (ESV)

Jesus used salt to teach how important Christians are as they live out their lives in the world. Comparing disciples to the familiar commodity, salt, He reminded them to think of the value of salt. Salt (sodium chloride), a common commodity, is used for seasoning, for a preservative, as a cleansing agent and in many compounds for medicinal and other uses.

Growing up on a farm, I saw the uses of salt in more ways than for seasoning the food we ate. My father kept blocks of salt suspended on stable platforms for our farm animals to “lick,” thus assuring that they would become thirsty and go to pure water sources to drink. Salt was a part of keeping the farm animals healthy.

Salt was also valuable as a preservative. Near Thanksgiving time, in my home community, we had what we knew as “Hog Killing Time.” Neighbors would help each other as the cold snaps hit our community to butcher the hogs and begin the process of curing the meat for later use. I recall how my father took salt and carefully rubbed it into the cut hams, shoulders and “middlings” laid out on the curing table in the smokehouse. At the right time, he hung them up to further cure. My father had his own formula for a cure for hams, consisting of a mixture of salt, brown sugar and other ingredients. He was somewhat famous for the “Dyer-cured hams.” He had regular customers from Gainesville and Atlanta year by year who would come for their pork ham when the curing process was completed. Salt had been a vital ingredient in this curing, seasoning, preserving process.

Salt as seasoning adds a distinctive flavor to foods we eat. Many of us who have experienced heart difficulties are familiar with the limitation of salt to prevent further damage to diseased arteries. We learn to use less-potent forms of salt to add flavoring to food. We are familiar, too, with other uses of salt as a cleansing agent and as a medicine. We use salt water to gargle for a sore throat to minimize soreness and get at the germs that cause infections. All of the uses for salt—to add flavor, to preserve, to cleanse, to permeate and heal—are characteristic of a Christian’s influence in society. Jesus said, “you are like salt in the earth.” The Message Bible by Eugene H. Peterson gives this translation to Matthew 5:13: “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.” Actually, in Jesus’s day, we are told that “un-salty” salt was used as a paving agent on the streets and roads; hence the use to be “trampled under people’s feet.”

In my historical research and writing, I came across Civil War letters from citizens in Fannin County , Georgia, addressed to Governor Joseph Emerson Brown begging for shipments of salt so cattle would have their licks and so people could preserve food. It was an urgent appeal. Consider Jesus’ statement to His disciples to be urgent: “You art the salt of the earth!” What an appeal and what a command to us! Christians must know that they have a flavor given to them by the Lord Christ, different from the world, and making a definite difference in society. Praise be to God! - Ethelene Dyer Jones 09.18.2016

A Believer Emanates Light

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. –Matthew 5:15-16 (NKJV).

One of the names Jesus gave His followers is light. What is the duty of light? To shine, to give illumination, to dispel darkness, to make it possible to see what we need to do and the way to go.

We have only to think of power failure and no lights to realize the importance of light. We sometimes take light for granted when we have it. But its absence is noticeable, indeed. If a storm takes out power and lights, we can light a single candle and have enough illumination to get us from one room to another as we carry the candle.

Considering that Jesus said His followers are light, we need to shine, not to call attention to ourselves but to glorify the Father. I like the insight Eugene Peterson gives in The Message translation of Matthew 5:14-16: “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house, be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

Think about the ability to shine so that we bring out the God-colors in the world! How refreshing to think that we can reflect the love of Christ, the light of Christ, and bring out the “God-colors” to someone who needs the light of God’s love.

Think how a trained surgeon uses a powerful beam of laser light to operate on what ails a human body, even to a malignancy. Christ used ordinary metaphors to teach extraordinary truth. Light is so prevalent about us but often so taken for granted until there is a light failure. How does the candle of my life shine? I can remember in the days before electricity came to our farm community, we lighted our house with kerosene lamps. When I got old enough to attend to the chore, I was assigned the task to carefully wash the globes of the lamps and trim the wicks so that the lamps could produce more adequate light. Then I placed the lamps carefully at their appointed places so they would be ready to light when darkness approached. Smudges on the globe hampered the light. Are there smudges in my life that distort the reflection of Christ’s light through me? “You are the light of the world.” A dark world awaits the light from each of Christ’s followers. We have a divine commission to shine as lights in the world. And as Christ fuels our individual light, we shine for Him and glorify the father. -Ethelene Dyer Jones 08.16.2015

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”-Matthew 5:9 (KJV)

“Shalom” is a Hebrew greeting that has several meanings, the most important of which is to wish personal well-being, prosperity, bodily health and peace to the one greeted. Jesus taught us in the beatitudes that peacemakers are blessed and are called the children of God, for God is the Master Peacemaker. Peacemaking was exemplified in the life and ministry of Jesus. Where hatred and strife existed, He taught us how to seek and pursue the ways of peace. A peacemaker is not static, hoping that peace will come if a situation is left alone to work itself out. Instead, a peacemaker actively works to bring about reconciliation where enmity and hatred exist.

Those who work for peace are sharing in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 teaches us that being a peacemaker is part of our Christian way of life: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Paul’s teachings on Jesus and the Christian as peacemaker are further clarified in Ephesians 2:14: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” In Colossians 1:19-20 the importance of peace and how it is generated is expressed thusly: “For in Him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Saint Francis of Assissi lived and worked in the 13^th century. A study of his life shows that he was a noted peacemaker. He left behind an often-quoted prayer that has been set to music. The words of his prayer bear out the truth of the seventh Beatitude:

“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much

Seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.

– Ethelene Dyer Jones 02.22.2015

A Light to the Nations – A Messianic Prophecy

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” – Isaiah 60:1-3 (ESV).

This prophecy has a two-fold emphasis. The Messiah, who is the Light to all nations, will come. Then, because He has come, God will put His light and beauty upon the people, attracting the nations to the Light of Christ. Jesus said during His earthly ministry, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32, ESV). He spoke of the death whereby He would die as a sacrifice for our sins; the cross is a sign beckoning all people to come to redemption and faith in Him. 

 

Isaiah is foreseeing the glory of all of God’s people being united under the Light. The bright future of God’s people calls for faith and action. We cannot stand dormant in the Light. “The Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen in you” (v. 2) indicates that God will make a clear distinction between His own people and those who still remain in darkness, those who have not acknowledged Him.  But those with the Light have an obligation to bear His light:

The fulfillment of this prophecy from Isaiah was spoken by Simeon when Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem when he was forty days old. There old Simeon blessed Jesus and said, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32, ESV). Imagine the joy old Simeon had in seeing and holding the Son of God! He had been promised the privilege of doing so before his death, and the occasion of Jewish purification of Mary and child was the event that linked the prophecy to the fulfillment Simeon was experiencing. This is another example of how God fulfills what He promises.

Jesus’ declaration can be true for all His followers: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12, ESV). He furthermore told us to be lights for Him: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16, ESV). To be light is to wield positive influence. We speak of coming to the light of the truth. A single candle can banish the darkness in a room. Likewise, a Christian life, lived under the direction, influence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ can make an untold difference in lighting others to Him for salvation. This is every Christian’s calling: to come to the Light and to reflect His light.

Prayer. Lord, Christmas was filled with light. The star shone to lead Wise Men to Jesus at Bethlehem. “The glory of the Lord” that surrounded the shepherds as they heard the announcement by the angels of the Savior’s birth was accompanied by a great light. And Jesus, the Light of the world, tells us, “You are the light of the world!” Let us arise, shine, for our light is come!” In December in most of our churches, we have a double emphasis: remembering the coming of the Lord Christ to earth, and fulfilling his commission to “go, tell, share, bear light to others!” May we be faithful! Amen.

–Ethelene Dyer Jones 12.14.2014.

The Christian as Light

“You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” –Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV).

Perhaps no song or teaching is as expressive of the Christian as light in the world as the chorus we learned to sing as children in Vacation Bible School, complete with the actions that accompanied the song:

“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine;

This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Put it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine;

Put it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m going to let it shine;

Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m going to let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Jesus said in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Several Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament foretold of the Light of the world coming to dwell among men.  One is found in Isaiah 60:20b:  “the Lord will be your everlasting light and your days of mourning shall be ended.”

Where there is light, darkness scatters.  Light also has the connotation of truth.  Where light is, people cannot dwell in the darkness of spiritual ignorance.  “I am the light of the world,” said Jesus of Himself.  Light reveals, and part of Jesus’ earthly mission was to reveal the truth of God to a world in spiritual darkness.  Jesus is the Light of the world.  So are his disciples.  The light/dark contrast is basic to Christian theology.  “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ has shone in our hearts to give the light (Greek photismos) of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV). As lights, Christians are to be fundamentally different from the world.  And we are to bear witness of the Light, the Christ who reveals the truth of God and leads us to the true Light.

Like a lighted city on a hill and a light not hidden under a bushel, the Christian shines for the Lord, giving Him honor and glory.  Let us pray that we may reflect and spread abroad the true light found complete in Jesus Christ.

                                                                                               -Ethelene Dyer Jones  05.25.2014

The Christian as Salt

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” –Matthew 5:13 (ESV).

            Jesus used the metaphor of salt to teach how important Christians are as they live out their lives in the world.  Comparing the disciples to the familiar commodity of salt, He reminded them to think of the value of salt.  It is used as a preservative, a seasoning and a purifier.

            As a preservative it keeps food from spoiling.  Growing up on a farm, we raised hogs. About Thanksgiving time, my father set a “hog-killing” day when the hogs were butchered and the meat laid out in the smokehouse by hams, shoulders and “middlings” to be preserved and cured.  I recall how he took salt, rubbing it well into the meat to start the curing process.  He also had his own formula using a mixture of brown sugar and spices to sugar-cure the hams, but always there was the salt application first to preserve the meat.

            Salt is also a valuable seasoning, making food taste better.  Many of us who have experienced heart difficulties may have to forego salt in our diets, or, if salt is used at all only minimally or a “lite” or “sea” salt.  Salt permeates food and makes it more tasty.

            Other valuable uses for salt include as a cleansing agent, as a medicine in warm water to gargle sore throats, as a product to purify water.  All of these can be likened to the influence of the Christian’s life in society and in interaction with others.

            Coming immediately after the Beatitude on persecution, the comparison of the Christian to salt shows how important the influence for good is that the Christian wields in the world.  We are to help preserve, flavor and purify the society in which we live by setting a godly example and counteracting corruption.  To do this, the Christian must be genuine, holy and obedient to God’s direction.  Think of as many good qualities of salt as you can.  It was an everyday product with valuable uses to which Christ compared a true believer in Him.  Salt was ordinary, but oh, so extraordinary and useful!

            In historical research for columns I’ve written, I came across some Civil War letters posted by leaders in Fannin County, Georgia to Governor Joseph Emerson Brown, the man who served our state for four two-year terms during the years leading up to and during that war (Nov. 1857-June,1865).  More than one of the letters begged the governor to ship salt as soon as possible to the mountains, for they had none for their cattle salt licks or for use in curing meat or for seasoning food.  It was an urgent appeal and one expressing genuine need: salt, a necessity.  Likewise, in thinking of the Christian’s influence as salt, we think of the necessity of good example and virtuous living.

            Jesus said that if the salt loses its savor, or saltiness, it is good for nothing except to be trodden under feet of men.  We have historical accounts that ancient roads were actually paved with such salt—that which had lost its potency as a preservative and a flavoring.  The alternative, rather than to waste what had been taken from the salt mines or else extracted from sea water in a slow process was to spread it on roadways when the product became flavorless to make roads smoother.  That may not have been the original intent for the salt, but it was a way to make it useful.  Relating the metaphor to a Christian, the “salt that has lost its savor” applies to those who take on the characteristics of worldliness and are no longer an influence for good.  Christians must feel that they have a flavor given them by the Lord Christ, different from the world, and making a definite difference in society.  Let us pray for this “saltiness” in our own lives! 

                                                 -Ethelene Dyer Jones 05.18.2014