“If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:18‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

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Paul is not saying to please everyone to maintain peace. For we cannot please both god and men.

“For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/gal.1.10.hcsb

We cannot be people who half-hearted toward people and half-hearted toward God. Either we will neglect God or Hate people. Rather, we are to love God with all that we are and love people the same way we would love ourselves. 

“He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:37-40‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/mat.22.37-40.hcsb

So how do we live at peace with everyone? There are attitudes and actions we can control, but we cannot control their actions and attitudes. If we are hard workers in the workplace our coworkers will respect us. If we are a good teammate to those whom we are on a team both teams will respect us. If we submit to the people God has placed over us, bosses, police, mayors, governors, and presidents, they will leave us alone and will be at peace with them that know us. 

There will be those people who hate us because we follow Jesus, but those people are few and far between. I don’t know that I have ever come across any in my everyday life, but I did know a pastor who had several people who hated him because of his stance on God in one of his previous cities. 

If we are living at peace with our neighbors and God then I believe we are living out the Christian life with the love God shows us at the forefront of our life. If we a Christian moral life people will be at peace with us. If people hate us because of anything other than our love of God then we need to change our behavior to match the life God is calling us to walk.

“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:18-19‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
https://www.bible.com/72/jhn.15.18-19.hcsb  

I don’t want the world to think of me as one of them, but rather they should know that I am a Christian who tries to live out the Bible in front of them. If they hate me because I follow Jesus so be it, but if they hate me because of any other reason then I must change. Only then can I change their attitude and actions toward me.

If possible in your actions and attitudes live at peace with everyone while living for Jesus!


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