There are times that we get caught up being concerned about making peace in everything else but ourselves. We think of world peace, peaceful protests, peaceful transitions of power, peace in our relationships, and so-on, but we hardly ever sit and contemplate the level of peace we have within our own lives. I hope to help us in this regard today as I unpack the meaning of peace and why it is in the Christmas story. Here we go with week number two of our four week Advent journey together! Peace
Luke 2:14 (NET) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”
This was the proclamation of the vast heavenly army that showed up to the Shepherds in Luke chapter 2 to declare the arrival of the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ. They could have proclaimed many things, but they started with Glory to God, and peace among people! That is a big deal. Angels are messengers, sent by God to give humanity messages. So, in essence, this is exactly what God wanted to tell us. “Glorify Me because I have sent the anointed One into the world, and through Him there will be opportunity for peace again to all who will believe this message!” (My paraphrase).
For those of us who battle anxiety and worry, we all understand those moments of time when we get a break from those feelings and actually experience peace. There really is nothing sweeter than to be at peace in your spirit (aside from the reality of hope, I do believe that hope is the greatest feeling in all of the world – in my opinion!). But let’s dig into this meaning of peace a bit deeper.
What is the significance of Peace?
Peace is a word that means wholeness, oneness, restored to oneness, rest, quietness, joined together, etc. It is interesting to think about the word peace in that way, because for me when I think of peace I usually think of it in terms of the absence of war, or chaos. Well, although that is true, it goes far beyond the absence of something by giving us the presence of something else instead – wholeness!
To be whole in our lives is a huge deal. We all know what it is to be brokenhearted, or just plain broken. It hurts and causes us to live in an unwholesome way. For example, when I am not whole I will usually look to someone or something else to fill the hole that I have in my heart. I will put undo pressure upon others to fill this void, and to be honest it usually leads to sin.
We all have deep needs that must be met in our lives for us to experience wholeness. Our four deepest needs are; Acceptance, Security, Identity, and Purpose. In any given moment we can feel threatened in these areas and look to others to find these needs met because we are not at peace with knowing they are met in Christ. Which leads me to the next point.
Jesus Christ is our Agent of Peace!
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..” This means that we have been made one with Him, we are made whole in Him, and we are made right through Him! Our sins had separated us from God, but Jesus tore down that wall of separation and made the two entities (us and God) one again! Peace!
Here is an amazing passage to explain this even further, let him who has ears to hear – hear!
“But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
Ephesians 2:13-18
O’ how I love that passage of Scripture! If we understand this truth, it will free us to understand the dynamic aspect of what the cross of Christ truly did in order to gain us access to the Father and provide peace for us in Him. It is the Good News, it is the primary reason for hope! Peace makes us one with God again, it tears down the hostility that is against us, it creates security for us, it promotes wholeness for us, and it should produce worship to rise up in us!
Peace changes us!
Something happens within our hearts and minds when we are at peace. Did you know that one of the number one causes of all Doctor visits is stress? An article posted by stress.org (yeah, stress has its own website, I guess?) states that “It has been estimated that 75 – 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress related problems.” We are under so much pressure to conform, to strive for perfection in our lives, to accommodate the people in our lives, to look, talk, and feel certain ways, and on and on the list goes. That list doesn’t even mention things like Covid, the Election, Family disfunction, and so-on. We have the opportunity to engage with our “friends”; worry and stress/anxiety, on a continual basis throughout the day, but with Christ in our lives we have a chance to change that!
Jesus is our hope and peace. In the passage stated above, it says that He (Jesus) is our peace (Eph. 2:14). This is important because it moves the concept of peace from something that can seem intangible to tangible. Sometimes concepts are hard to grasp, but when personified they become much easier to hold onto and make a part of our DNA. Let’s hold onto Jesus and make Him part of our DNA! He is our peace!
The other aspect of peace changing us is this, we are called to be peace-makers not peace-keepers! Unfortunately, we will spend much of our time when we are not at peace in ourselves seeking to keep the peace around us, and we inevitably end up either hurting ourselves or others, or we just burn out trying. When we are whole and secure in Christ (at peace) we are perfectly positioned to make peace wherever we go. Our very presence will bring peace because it is actually the presence of the God of Peace within us that we are submitted to, and people can and will feel that!
Peace will change our outlook on our role with the relationships around us. We will move from the unhealthy peace-keeping routines that we find ourselves sucked into, to being a confident peace-maker that is able to address things in a healthy way for the purpose of creating peace! Here is an example of this: Have you ever felt the tension of being around someone that is disrespectful and and careless in the way they speak to you or others? When you encounter that person, do you avoid, confront, or respond in the same disrespectful ways they talk to you?
- Avoidance is actually a way of peace-keeping, where we think if we just ignore the issue then we will not create a war with this person. In this we are actually not helping anything, and are only looking out for our own interests.
- Responding to the person in the same way they are talking to you only causes more tension and hurts everyone involved. Two wrongs do not make a right! I have heard it said that the level of a conversation will not rise above the first three minutes of that conversation, so if you want the atmosphere to remain calm and you want to promote peace, you may want to consider fighting that disrespectful spirit with the opposite respectful one. Remember, you cannot defeat a spirit by the same spirit, you only defeat a spirit with its opposite.
- Confronting the person in a loving way that communicates the truth with grace is what will most likely create peace. There are always exceptions, but for the most part a calm and respectful response that is rooted in wholeness and security will dissolve an unhealthy person’s attempts to create chaos. Jesus is the only source by which we will be able to draw from in regard to this. The reason I say this is because without Christ we will be operating in our flesh, but with Christ we will crucify the flesh and its desires and we will instead choose the Spirit within us. When we choose the Spirit, then we will be operating in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – because that is the fruit that comes from such a decision (based on Galatians 5:22-23). Peace is a byproduct of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
Peace among people with whom He is well pleased
I must make this distinction as I wrap up this post. Peace is only truly experienced in relationship with God. In our verse for today it states that peace and pleasing God go hand in hand, so the natural question might be, “How do I know what pleases God?”. Faith is the main element that pleases God.
In Hebrews 11:6 it says that it is impossible to please God without faith. Many of us think that it is obedience that pleases God, and absolutely it is! But, obedience without faith is worthless to God, that is religion. Obedience springing from a relationship of love with God through faith is what the Lord desires. So, be at peace as you embrace your Savior, Jesus Christ, through faith in this Christmas season!
God bless you!
BTW- If you are wondering why there is only one post per week right now, and that post is inconsistent, it is because December is my busiest month and I just do not have the time to dedicate to more than once a week.
I appreciate the opportunity to serve you in this way, but I have to keep my primary role priority. I hope you understand and I pray that you are blessed through this content!
