Wigglesworth Devotional for August 8
August 8
Being a Peacemaker
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
—Ephesians 4:3
Scripture reading: Matthew 5:9, 17-24
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!
Thought for today: God wants us to have a pure love, a love that always helps someone else at its own expense.
Excerpted from Smith Wigglesworth Devotional by Smith Wigglesworth, © 1999 by Whitaker House. Published by Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA. Used with permission. All rights reserved. www.whitakerhouse.com.
Smith Wigglesworth Devotional: 365 Day Devotional
By Whitaker House
Smith Wigglesworth was a man who took God at his word, and God used his faith as a model for others. Explore these daily truths from Scripture and the writings of the Apostle of Faith, and you’ll quench your spiritual thirst, conquer defeating fears, be an effective soul winner, and see impossibilities turn into realities. 558 pages.
More Daily Devotions for August 8
Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
Morning & Evening by Charles Spurgeon
God Almighty by Your infinity mercy and grace help me to peacemaker and to keep the unit of Spirit in the bond of peace in Jesus Christ name