This transcript was auto-generated.

There is a verse in the NT bible book of Romans that says as much as it is with you, be at peace with all people. I think that one of the great signs of a mature Christian faith is if we are the sort of person who always tries to seek the path of peace. We are told in Ephesians that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, and peace. There are many aspect to that peace, there is a peace that can be  around you and we can find a peace within us and there is also of course peace with God. In Colossians it says, let the peace of God rule in your heart. The Greek word translated rule means let the let the peace of God be the umpire in your life. Therefore, if there is any tension between you and somebody else, seek peace. This passage in Genesis 21 indicates to me that both of these men, Abraham and Abimelech were seeking peace and we should do the same.

Let me probe that just a bit what's the alternative of peace look like. Very often when there's a conflict between two people one of them feels they have been wronged or hurt. I never cease to marvel at how often people just want to seek revenge and see other people hurt. There was a famous pop-psychology book published in the 1970’s called “Hurt people, hurt people”. But it is true people rather that seek peace often seek punishment. The expression, “don’t get mad get even”, springs to mind. They wouldn't always say it like that, what they say is, this I just want justice, or I want them to feel how I fell, which is another way of saying they hurt me, and I want them hurt. “I just want justice, I want my day in court, I want my pound of flesh”. The downside of that attitude is the feeling of resentment can brew and grow until did you get angry bitter resentful. What that attitude ultimately does is make you miserable and angry.

That's not the way to have inner peace and it's certainly not the way they have peace with other people. On the other hand, we could seek peace which might mean some compromise and it might even mean a little humility needs to be shown. However, it can be worth it because if we seek peace the result of that can be not only peace between you and the other party, but a sense of peace within you also. I think the first part of this message is simply saying that these two men recognised they could not have any differences between them anymore and both men expressed the desire to live in peace.

“Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized. But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”

(Genesis 21: 25-26)

Abimelech's reply to Abraham's accusation is, “I never heard about this until right now, I don't know anything about this until just now”, and he says, what we need to do if we're going to have peace is communicate with one another. As long as this was an unresolved difference brewing there was a problem between the two of them. If we want to resolve issues so that we have fewer conflicts, then any unresolved issues have got to be addressed. A peacemaker deals with things. When Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers”, there has to be an acknowledgement that part of being a peacemaker involves dealing with situations. By the way this works in marriage and every other type of human relationship also. We need to keep short accounts and address small issues as they arrive if we don’t, they'll build and kicking the can down the road will only cause trouble further down the road.

One of the keys to having a peaceful relationship with people and this is what this is all about their clearing the air. For them it will mean some very practical communication and planning, and it might do for us also. In fact, the example given here can act as a template to how we might practically avoid conflict in our personal and business relationships in the future.