“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Ronald Reagan 1987. I remember this day. Tears filled my eyes as I heard them and the one person sitting on the wall that separated freedom from an oppressed nation took a stone and pounded it on the top of the wall symbolizing the tearing it down. I remember hundreds of people climbing over to the other side of the wall and enjoying the freedom for the first time. A slab of that wall stands outside of the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, California.
This week, I am reminded of that event, and yet again tears fill my eyes, but for a different reason. I am fearful for those people that once enjoyed freedom that they will become under the regime of a cruel leader and dictatorship. Lives are already lost. War is upon us. Growing up in the 1980s, it was the end of the Cold War, and we experienced a time of peace. I cannot fathom having to go into a bomb shelter or fleeing the land that I’ve known all my life. War is cruel. War is horrible. War brings death and destruction.
I have had friends who have been missionaries in both Ukraine and Russia. They are brokenhearted at the sight of their countries. I am brokenhearted over the worn torn images. So, why war? Power? Greed? Envy? Selfishness? All of them are combined. When we focus on what we don’t have, instead of the great things in our life, we have war. For many of us, so far away, we wonder what is that we can do for the people involved in this. We wonder how we can help the Ukrainians and the Russian people who do not want this war.
First, we can pray. Some people believe that prayer does not do anything and that it is passive. They are people who have never experienced the power of prayer. Prayer is powerful. God hears our prayers. God listens. You must talk to him. Pray for peace. Pray for the victims. Pray for the leaders to be taken down or to have a change of heart. Pray that none of us or anyone else desires that much power.
Next, we can find a charity that we trust and support with our resources. For those of us who know people who live there or who have lived there, we can connect with them and find trustworthy charities to donate. People judge those who take money, but we forget that there are groups out there that are doing the work. Find them. Take time off social media and your political fights and find those trustworthy groups.
The third thing we can do is join in with those in our own country who have relatives still in the region. We can ask what they need, instead of barging in on them with what we think they need or want. Once we ask that question, then we do what they say they needed. Some will say prayer. Others will say strength. Whatever it is, if it is in our power, we do what we can to fulfill it.
The best thing we can do is stop our wars with others, whether the war is on social media or real life. As Christians, we can bring peace by being peaceful. There are people in our own communities that are suffering. We can give help to those people. if we are serving, we change the world, one person at a time.
To wish for peace is one idea. To be a peacemaker is a choice. Choose to be a peacemaker. For the past few years, all that has been on social media is the fight over which political or which religious group is the best and the other one is horrible. It has led to a mental and social war. People have suffered with mental health issues. We had time to be at home, but we connected on social media and fought. The wars within ourselves were flowing out of our hearts onto the pages and hurting others. It’s time to stop with those wars and bring peace into the lives of the people we influence.
Do you want to be known as a warmonger or a peacemaker? Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” He never said, “Blessed are the warmongers who fight over politics on social media. I’m just as guilty. Now, I am striving for peace.
Jesus said, I give you peace, but not as the world gives peace. I loved living in the 1980s, even with big hair and big puffy sleeves. The best part was the peace in the world, but I had wars within. It has taken years for me to settle those wars and end them and accept the peace of Jesus.
As we strive for peace, let us share that peace with others. Jesus gives us peace. Even in a world of war, he is our peace. Jesus is there. Jesus cares. Jesus desires for us to have the peace in our lives. That is the peace we must seek and take.
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