How To Stay At Peace When Tricky People Come Your Way

Romans 12:18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men

Matthew 5:9,19,23-25
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches [them], he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

    God isn’t like Santa Claus.  He’s not sitting up there keeping score to see if you have been naughty or nice and then selecting your presents as a result of your behavior.  He doesn’t give the advice that He gives in the Bible to be mean. God loves you and part of the reason that He says what He does is so that you won’t get into trouble and be hurt as a result of an action that you could have avoided. That’s one of the reasons He says to make friends with your enemy on the way to court. What a great, practical strategy!  Be friends with everyone, not only because it is the nice and right thing to do, but so the yucky person will be nicer to you and be less likely to hurt you.  After all, your enemy doesn't see how you really feel, he only sees the way you act.  God also says that He wants you to be at peace with the people in your world so that you can let go of the weird feelings that are destructive to your spirit.  When you are busy thinking about how bad something or someone is, the train car of your mind is totally filled with thinking about the offending thing or person that is inside of your car.  To get where you need to go, you need to throw the bad feelings out of your car, so that your spirit is light enough to reach your destination. You may not be able to change another person, but you can do what you can do to be at peace with them.  You may not like exactly where you are right now, job wise, or relationship wise, but you can do what you can do to make it better, and then let God take care of the outcome. And finally, God wants you to be at peace with everyone because then you are modeling or demonstrating how to be nice, even when you don’t feel like it.  You will be teaching God’s ways to everyone who sees you. You will be a peacemaker.  And that’s what really pleases God! 

Click the link below to see my books,
"Keeping Your Lamp Lit"
http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Your-Lamp-Lit-Schuler/dp/1451559321/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277386999&sr=1-1#noop
"Good Strategies for Bad Times"
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategies-Bad-Times-Schuler/dp/1438257775/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265471485&sr=8-1