Today the
shopping comes to a halt. The gifts sit wrapped under the tree. Stockings are
filled. Baking is finished. All the busy preparations for this one day cease.
Today I sit amongst the tinsel and wrappings, and try hard to see through it
all…to celebrate and focus on the One who made this day famous – Jesus, the
Prince of Peace.
The hustle
and bustle that leads up to this day can sometimes leave me asking, “Where is
His peace?”
He said, “Peace
I leave with you…”
Do we know
His peace in our lives? It seems like a radical idea, the concept of peace in a
world filled with turmoil, and in lives filled with so much noise and busyness.
The media reminds us daily that this world is unstable; governments are
overthrown, wars break out, and closer to home - families fight, marriages
split, and children rebel. The television commercials scream at us to fill our
lives with “things” instead of Him. But our hearts cry out for peace…His peace.
What did Jesus mean when He said He would give us His peace?
“My peace I
give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”
He made a
point to tell us it is His own peace that He gives us, not the kind the world
offers. The world’s peace is dependent on circumstances, the ups and downs of
daily life or the things we have (or don’t have). His peace doesn’t come from
without, it comes from within; the place within our souls where His Spirit
dwells. It is His own peace because it comes from Him, inside us, His
followers.
When all the
wrappings of life fall away, He is so much easier to see. His peace is known
when we spend time seeking Him and being still in His presence…not rushing past
Him to do the next thing or get the next thing.
“Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Worry,
upset, fear, leave when we trust Him and rest in His peace. There will always
be much to do, but He will never ask so much of us that we don’t have time for
Him – the Prince of Peace.
On this
Christmas day may we celebrate Him, as the baby who arrived in the manger bed
and began His journey to the cross. He was born to die, so that in Him we could
fully live and know His peace.
“Peace I
leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” ~ Jesus
John 14:27
