The beginning aspects of peacemaking can’t be one of those things we grow into later. It is a natural manifestation of salvation. In other words, a brand new believer is an aspiring peacemaker or they are not a brand new believer. They may not be very good at it; but, they will have a heart for it. When they generate conflicts with others, they are going to get it straightened out with God and their brother.

1 John 2:9-10 (NIV) Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.

Peacemaking is a manifestation of love. Hate causes people to destroy relationships of peace. This Scripture is saying that those who are not trying to be in a peaceful relationship with their brother are not Christians.

Christians aren’t perfect and we all will, from time to time, get into some sort of conflict with others. That doesn’t mean we hate them. When we find ourselves in conflict with others as Christians, we feel bad about it. We then start praying and asking God to help us go back to them and apologize.

The new and the untrained Christians will spend a lot of time apologizing (Matthew 5:24). As we become more mature, we make LESS mistakes and therefore have to do a lot less apologizing. But, we as true Christians will go and tell people we are sorry. If it has been a mistake against another Christian, they will forgive us over and over again.

Mat 18:21-22 (NIV) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. And we will do the same for them.

The Holy Spirit convicts our conscience and we feel the need to make things right. It is then that we start the prayer for the power to go back to them and apologize. We keep praying until we stop forgiving, justifying, excusing, and trying to make ourselves feel better about it. Those who aren’t really Christians feel conviction from the Holy Spirit but won’t pray and ask God to help them go apologize. Apologizing as a part of a true Christian’s peacemaking.