As I reflect this morning, long before the rest of the home is awake, my mind is carried back to the angelic announcement of God’s declared work: “There is now peace among men (Lk 2:14).” A Savior has been born. He made a humble entrace into the world but it was not a quiet entrance. God dispatched an angel to announce the new era…an era of peace.
We are nearly 2,000 years past that incredible night. Many look about and wonder,”Where is the peace?” Don’t miss the condition attached to the peace. See, God did not work for peace. He is not laboring for peace. He declared peace to be among men with whom He is well-pleased. In this we recognize a distinction that the Bible draws specifically for us. There is no peace experienced for those with whom God is not pleased. In fact there was never a promise of it. I am mindful of all those who yesterday and today sang carols about “Joy to the world” or “Peace on Earth,” yet peace is merely an elusive ideal that they strive to create or act as if they have obtained. For them…there is no peace, only the idea of peace. BUT…God declared Peace to be among men with whom He is pleased.
Honestly, God’s peace is something we should seek but not something we must strive for. Our “seeking” is directed toward God’s PLEASURE. His pleasure is in our experiencing His redeeming of our lives by returning to Him as our God and King. Apart from Him, there is no peace and there can be no peace as long as we are at enmity with Him.
It seems to me that this Christmas would be a great time for us to seek Peace by returning to the One who declared peace to be among men with whom He is pleased. All of us have a past. We all have regrets. We all have a list of failures and a basket full of “I wish I hadn’t” statements. But just as God declared “peace among men” and changed all the world by introducing a NEW day…we can know a new day as well. Our past can rightly be placed in the past. Our regrets can be lost in the sea to be remembered no longer.
He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19.
Today, receive the free gift of God and experience “peace” that only heaven can bring and DID BRING…in a single instant when God declared “…and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Glory to God in the highest, and Merry Christmas from my family to yours.
Recent Comments