“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” – Romans 12:18
Can you even imagine how different the world would be if every Christian actually tried to follow this simple command? How different our nation would be? How different social media would be?
“If possible”. What would happen if we did everything imaginable just to live peaceably with everyone of every race, ethnicity, nationality, and faith? To treat each person we encounter with dignity, love, and respect as someone made in the image of God? Not “if we prefer”, not “if it’s easy”, not “if we like them”, but “if possible”. Living peaceably is far more possible than we think, we just seldom want to do the hard work and make the personal sacrifices required to make peace possible.
“So far as it depends on you”. Yes, people will provoke, criticize, harass, and attack us. We live in a fallen world full of sinners like us. There are other Scriptures to guide in these cases. But in most situations we have a fundamental choice: will we satisfy ourselves and escalate conflict, or will we please Christ and pursue genuine peace? We’re very good at blaming others for the conflicts surrounding and involving us. In our minds, others are 90-100% responsible for the problem. However, responsibility is often far more evenly divided and Jesus told us to deal with our part first before even beginning to talk about the other person’s issues (Matthew 7:3-5). Do everything in your power to make peace!
“Live peaceably with all”. Christ commands us to live peaceably with everyone if at all possible. He does not command or encourage us to “get ours”, nor to “look after number one”, nor to demand the respect “we deserve”. We are to actively and intentionally pursue peace. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation and we are to pursue reconciliation! With everyone!
It won’t always happen, we won’t always be successful, but if Christians seriously and consistently made the effort, this fallen world would be a different place and those who don’t know Christ would be seriously intrigued by those “weird peace-making Christians”.