Peace Maker/Peace Keeper

(Geneses 20:2-3 KJV) And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.  But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. 

There is an obvious difference between being a “peace maker” and a “peace keeper.” Abraham clearly showed his “peace keeper” side when he was willing to give his wife, Sarah, to Abimelech without even a discussion. As a matter of fact he even deceived Abimelech into believing it was alright by telling him that Sarah was his sister (which was a partial truth), rather than his wife. As a result of Abraham’s desire to keep peace at all cost, Abimelech took Sarah as his wife.

God would have no part in Abraham’s “fear based” scheme in order to keep the peace, so He came to Abimelech in a dream and told him that if he touched Sarah he was a dead man. God gave Abimlech that warning because He was in covenant with Abraham and Sarah. One of the laws of a “blood covenant” is that each covenant partner protects the other.

A “peace maker” on the other hand is one who settles conflicts based on truth and fairness without showing partiality to either side.

A “peace keeper” (as we saw in Abraham’s case) is one who will try to keep the peace even if it means being deceptive.

Perhaps a better way of describing the “peace keeper” and the “peace maker” is to compare them to the fairways on a golf course. I recently returned from a ministry trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico where the pastor of the church is a retired professional golfer. One day, in the course of our conversation, he made a point on another subject by using the different fairways on golf courses as his example. I also want to use the same example to make my point regarding the difference between a “peace maker” and a “peace keeper.”

“The fairways on some municipal golf courses could be as wide as 100 yards. The fairways on the PGA Tour golf courses are about 40 yards wide. The fairways of the U.S. Open golf course are about 25 yards wide. This of course means that the penalty for hitting one’s golf  ball in the rough on the U.S. open is severe.”

The “peace keeper” is much like playing golf on a municipal golf course with 100 yard wide fairways...I am okay, you are okay, and everybody is okay. The “peace maker” on the other hand is like playing golf on a U.S. Open golf course that has a 25 yard wide fairway.

The narrow width of a fairway is the determining factor for the true professional golfer. The same thing is true with a “peace maker.” His parameters are also narrow and that is why he is able to settle conflicts based on truth and fairness without showing partiality to either side.

The “peace keeper” may mean well, but their spiritual fairways are so wide that truth and fairness is seldom found in their “peace keeping” efforts. After all Jesus did NOT say, "Blessed are the peace keepers for they shall be called the sons of God."

Father,

Help us to be as “truth driven” as the narrow fairways on the U.S. Open golf course in order to establish an everlasting peace through truth. Lord we do not want to be as “broad minded” as the wide fairways where no truth is established at all...in order to make a temporary peace such as was the case with Abraham.

Amen