I don't know about you, but our verse today has always been very interesting to me.  You know, Paul did not write the book of Romans while on a peaceful vacation with loving and sweet people and perfect peaceful circumstances.  He wrote Romans in the midst of opposition and situations filled with hardship.  I don't think Paul wrote anything or did anything for the Lord without people coming against him and hard circumstances all around him.  Things were anything but peaceful.  However, he wrote these instructions because he knew things were not going to be easy for the Roman believers. I can relate in that I walk through hardships, never ending opposition, and relational differences in my day to day life in this crazy world.

Yet Paul was reminding everyone who will read this verse that peace is possible.  According to Lysa Terkeurst, " Peace isn't the absence of hostility, peace is the atmosphere we can bring into hostility."

To live peaceable with all seems impossible.  However, because of the Jesus in us the impossible can be made possible.  It's our demonstration of this peace that makes us stand out and cause others to notice that we are different.

There is nothing more powerful to bring into a situation than the Prince of Peace Himself.  Just the mention of His name brings peace.

    `