Some people are easy to get along with. Others feel like sandpaper on your soul. Romans 12:18 speaks right into that tension. It acknowledges that peace is not always simple or even fully in our hands, but it is never optional for the follower of Jesus. There is a holy “if possible” and a serious “on your part” that call us away from blame-shifting and into Spirit-empowered responsibility. Today is about asking, in faith, “Have I truly done my part to live at peace?”

Peace, Not Passivity

Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.” Notice that peace here is pursued, not assumed. This isn’t a call to be a doormat or to water down truth so nobody ever gets upset. It is a call to actively seek peace, as far as faithfulness to Christ allows. Hebrews 12:14 echoes this: “Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Peace and holiness walk together; we don’t sacrifice one for the other.

Jesus Himself is our model. He is the Prince of Peace, yet He never compromised truth to keep people comfortable. He confronted sin, called for repentance, and still stretched His arms wide on the cross to reconcile sinners to God. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) To follow Him is to hold conviction and compassion together: refusing to lie about sin, yet refusing to stop loving the sinner.

Owning Your Part

There is a quiet but piercing question hidden in “If it is possible on your part…” (Romans 12:18). Have I really done everything that is possible on my side of the relationship? It is easy to say, “They’re impossible,” and walk away with a clean conscience. But before God, we must ask harder questions: Have I listened? Have I apologized where I have truly sinned? Have I prayed for them, or only complained about them?

Scripture presses this responsibility deeper. “Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13) We who have been forgiven an infinite debt in Christ cannot cling tightly to petty grievances. Owning our part means we stop rehearsing how wrong the other person is and start honestly confessing where we have been proud, harsh, cold, or indifferent. It may not fix everything, but it keeps our hearts soft before the Lord.

Living as a Peacemaker in a Hostile World

Our world is discipling us to be outraged, quick to speak, and slow to listen. The gospel calls us in the opposite direction. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) Peacemakers are not merely peace-lovers; they move toward tension with a cross-shaped love that is willing to pay a cost. They absorb offenses, ask better questions, and refuse to answer contempt with contempt. Their gentleness is not weakness; it is the strength of Christ under control. “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5)

This does not mean every relationship will be restored. Some people will reject peace, twist your words, or harden their hearts. In such cases, walking in peace may mean setting wise boundaries while refusing bitterness. James writes, “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.” (James 3:18) Your call is to keep sowing: kind words, patient replies, honest confessions, persistent prayers. God sees the hidden seeds of peace that others ignore, and He will bring a harvest in His time.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making peace by Your blood and reconciling me to God. Today, help me do all that is truly possible on my part to live at peace with others; show me where I must repent, and strengthen me to obey You in every relationship.

Truth that is not experienced is no better than error, and may be fully as dangerous. Remember that the scribes who sat in Moses' seat were not the victims of error; they were the victims of failure to experience the truth they taught! We should see that one of the greatest foes of the Christian is religious complacency. The man who believes that he has "arrived" will not go any further; and the present neat habit of quoting a text to prove we have arrived may be a dangerous one if in truth we have no actual inward experience of the text. The great saints of the past have all had yearning hearts. Their longing after God all but consumed them; it propelled them onward and upward to heights toward which less ardent Christians look with languid eye and entertain no hope of reaching. May we offer this word of exhortation: pray on, fight on, sing on! Press on into the deep things of God. Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will!

There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat. - Exodus 25:22

Seeking God does not cover our heads from the storm of external calamities, nor arm our hearts against the darts and daggers of many a pain, anxiety, and care; but disturbance around is a very small matter if there be a better thing - rest within. Do you remember who it was that said, " In the world ye shall have tribulation . . . but in Me ye shall have peace"? Then we have, as it were, two abodes - one, as far as regards the life of sense, in the world of sense - another, as far as regards the inmost self, which may, if we will, be in Christ. A vessel with an outer casing and a layer of air between may be kept at a temperature above that of the external atmosphere. So we may have round us- and, if God so wills, let us not kick against His will - the very opposite of repose; we may have conflict and stir and strife, and yet a better rest than that of King Asa and his people (Chron. 15:15) may be ours. "Rest round about" is sometimes good and sometimes bad. It is often bad, for it is the people that " have no changes " who most usually " do not fear God." But rest within, that is sure to come when a man has sought with all his desire for God, whom he has found in all His fulness, is good only and best of all.

We all know, thank God! in worldly matters and in inferior degree, how blessed and restful it is when some strong affection is gratified, some cherished desire fulfilled! Though these satisfactions are not perpetual, nor perfect, they may teach us what a depth of blessed and calm repose, incapable of being broken by any storms or by any tasks, will come to and abide with the man whose deepest love is satisfied in God, and whose most ardent desires have found more than they sought for in Him! Be sure of this, dear friend, that if we do thus seek, and thus find, it is not in the power of anything "that is at enmity with joy" utterly to "abolish or destroy" the quietness of our hearts. " Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." They who thus repose will have peace in their hearts, even whilst tasks and temptations, changes and sorrows, disturb their outward lives.

Thus we may have the peace of God, rest in and from Him, entering into us, and in due time, by His gracious guidance and help, we shall enter into eternal rest. Whilst to seek is to find Him, in a very deep and blessed sense, even in this life; in another aspect all our earthly life may be regarded as seeking after Him, and the future as the true finding of Him. That future shall bring to those whose hearts have turned from the shows and vanities of time to God a possession of Him so much fuller than was experienced here that the lesser discoveries and enjoyments of Him which are experienced here, scarcely deserve in comparison to be called by the same name. " He was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round about," as well as within, in the land of peace, where sorrow and sighing, and toil and care, shall pass from memory; and they that warred against us shall be far away.