Keeping Peace in Your Household

The devil loves to stir up strife in a family. Nobody can get to us more than those who are closest to us and this gives way for many misunderstandings and arguments. A peaceful household is hard to find. Maybe Smith Wigglesworth's thoughts can encourage us to create a more peaceful place that we call home.

Being a Peacemaker
From the Smith Wigglesworth Devotional

"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" - Ephesians 4:3

Of all the things God intends for us to be, He intends for us to be peacemakers. I won't find a Scripture to help me make this point any better than Matthew 5:23-24:

"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Most Christians are satisfied with the first meaning of this passage, but the second meaning is deeper. Most people believe it is perfectly right, if you have offended another, to go to that person and say, "Please forgive me," and you win your brother when you take that part.

But this is the deeper sense: "If you ... remember that your brother has something against you," go and forgive him his transgressions. It is so much deeper than getting your own side right, to go and get his side right by forgiving him of all that he has done.

That will be a stepping stone to very rich grace in the area of keeping "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Someone may say, "I cannot forgive them because she did that and he said that. You know, he didn't recognize me at all. And he hasn't smiled at me for at least six months." Poor thing! May God help you through evil report and good report (2 Cor. 6:4,8). God can take us right through if we get to the right side of grace.

Friends, when you get to the place of forgiving your brother who has something against you, you will find that that is the greatest ideal of going on to perfection, and the Lord will help us "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The "bond of peace" is an inward bond between you and another child of God. Oh, glory to God!

God wants us to have a pure love, a love that always helps someone else at its own expense.

Check out Smith Wigglesworth Books. My favorite is the devotional so I can have a little piece of Smithy every morning.