It’s a tough time to be selling “Peace on Earth.”
In the Christmas Shoppe at the megastore, elves and reindeer move briskly out the door. Nativity scenes in warm pastels are inner-lit with bulbs and cheer. Miles and miles of twinkling lights unwind from endless shelves.
But who is buying “Peace on Earth?”
At first, it seems a quaint anachronism, harking back to simpler times and well-tuned carolers. But now, we fear our neighbors will think us terribly insensitive to be flaunting anything of peace when kids are dying in Kfar Aza, in Gaza, in Kharkiv.
How can the gospel still proclaim a peace on earth that is so rarely lived or loved?
The night sky circling Bethlehem 2000 years ago did not proclaim the end of wars or banish human savagery. What angels sang—and shepherds hoped, and wise men followed, and a weary couple trusted—was that heaven is fully on our side.
There was no war—there is no war—between the heart of God and those He calls His sons and daughters. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The birth of our Messiah sang to fearful, doubting folks like us what always has been true: “God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to Himself—not counting their sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19).
Grace is the anthem of God’s attitude toward us. Peace is His gift for all who choose the Child who was born to us.
So stay in grace. -Bill Knott
GIFTED AND GIVEN (March 31, 2023)
THE GRACE THAT LIFTS (March 24, 2023)
GRACE ONSTAGE (March 17, 2023)
GRACE AND FEAR (March 10, 2023)
CONTAGIOUS GRACE (March 03, 2023)
FREE AND EQUAL (February 24, 2023)
NOTHING RANDOM ABOUT KINDNESS (February 17, 2023)
THE WORK OF FAITH (February 10, 2023)
COSTLY GRACE (February 03, 2023)
GRACE BELOW THE EARS (January 27, 2023)
THE CHAIN OF GRACE (January 20, 2023)
THE MASTER MOSAIC (January 13, 2023)
GRACE IN THE VOYAGE (January 06, 2023)
WALKING ACROSS THE LINE (December 30, 2022)
NO BETTER GIFT (December 23, 2022)
THE CERTAINTIES OF GRACE December 16, 2022)
NO STRINGS ATTACHED (December 09, 2022)
GRACE THAT LIFTS (December 02, 2022)
GRACE AT THE GATES (November 25, 2022)
REDEEMING THE TIME (November 18, 2022)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Hello Heaven Podcast
Devoted To Prayer
Cast The Word
Let Me Be Frank | Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Podcast | Diocese of Bridgeport, CT
Philokalia Ministries
RVVL | David Butler