PEACE

PEACE

It’s a favorite Christmas time decoration.  The word “peace” is on everything from Christmas cards to tree ornaments.  I even have a little red sign with that simple word.  But after Christmas each year, they are all put away until the next year.  I’ve always wondered, why that word.  I bet most people don’t know.  I didn’t.  It is human nature to want peace right?  All the Miss America pageants had us use to wishing for “world peace”. But really?  That will never happen.  Who in their right mind thinks that can happen?  People argue about everything!

But then, I discovered that it’s ok, in the right way, to not get along with everyone.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:34 “do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  A sword divides, and certainly we have all seen that Jesus does indeed divide.  Jesus did not get along with everyone.  So why do people think Christians should get along and be “peaceful” and tolerant”?  Good and evil do not mix.  So it’s no surprise that there will be division.

But back to my question about the word “peace”, specifically why does it show up at Christmas?  This just didn’t make sense in my mind for years.  It’s in the Bible, which I fully believe in with all my heart.  In Luke 2:14 a multitude of the heavenly host were praising God and saying “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  So how could this same Bible say something that seems contradictory?  Apparently that is the very thing unbelievers claim.  But I knew it was just something I didn’t fully understand yet, and was confident that the answer would come.  As always, He didn’t let me down.

It really isn’t that difficult!  I was looking at it all wrong (how many times have we all been guilty of that)!  “On earth peace, goodwill toward men” wasn’t directed about us, but TOWARD us, from God!  God isn’t angry at man anymore!  That multitude of heavenly host was praising God for what was coming- the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  They knew what was about to happen, and were ecstatic!  This “peace” that we celebrate at Christmas was fulfilled with all that Jesus did.  The relationship between man and God was never going to be the same.  The debt of sin was about to be paid.  The grip of death was about to be loosed.  The curse of sickness was about to be broken.  That word for peace means “to be joined” or “to prosper”.  The opportunity to be joined, one with God, was about to become available for all mankind.  That didn’t exist under the law of the Old Testament.  It couldn’t, not with the sins of man.  But PEACE now exists; just not the way people have come to define it.  People could not ever have thought of something so grand.

So yes, peace is available.  This peace is much more than anything man can fathom.  It in fact required God to come up with this plan in the very beginning.  It’s no wonder that they were “praising God and saying glory to God in the highest”.

Maybe after Christmas, my little red sign with that simple word will remain displayed, if only to remind me that God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son.

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"You can never soar with the eagles if you're content to circle with the buzzards." - CP