Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

Joy to the World!

I’ve been thinking about the message of hope we seek in what we call the Christmas story. The real story of hope is not that a baby was born in a manger. The real story is that God came to earth so that our relationship to Him—our relationship with Him could be restored.

"Peace on earth, good will to men."

We read daily of wars and shootings –of evil slinking through our streets and attacking us from all sides. We see our leaders in government making poor decisions to save seats in congress and our judges appointed by presidents making unilateral decisions for us all without our voice.

We quiver and cringe. Peace on earth? We shake our heads and sadly whisper, “Not here.”

But Peace did come to earth and His name is Jesus.

Not the peace perhaps as we would have designed it. Not a peace that blankets the earth like a soft white snow on Christmas. We probably would have made peace look like a Disney movie with singing and birds flitting about and all of God’s creatures living in perfect harmony.

Peace came to earth and lives in the hearts of those who seek Him. We choose Peace.

Jesus came to take on himself all of the evil and pain caused by the wrongs we have done. What we call the Christmas story is really only the beginning of what is the Easter story.

The Easter story. A story of a love so deep and a longing so intense that God’s own son dies in my stead. A story of God forgiving me of the poor decisions I’ve made. A story of God bringing me true Peace. And His name is Jesus.

If you do not have that relationship with God; if you do not know that Peace—the Peace that is beyond our understanding, I urge you to seek God out. Seek to know Jesus. He will not hit you over the head like a bolt of lightning. You have to seek Him.

Read His words.

Get to know His people.

Talk to Him.

Listen to Him.

Seek Him and you will find His Peace.

And remember these words spoken by Jesus and recorded in the book of John (chapter 14, verse 27):

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”