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
GRATITUDE AND GRACE (November 11, 2022)
THREE CRUCIAL WORDS (November 04, 2022)
GRACE BEYOND FEAR (October 28, 2022)
THE GATE OF GRACE (October 21, 2022)
IN THE GRIP OF GRACE (October 14, 2022)
FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH (October 07, 2022)
GRACE WITHOUT DESPERATION (September 30, 2022)
A DAY TO REMEMBER (September 23, 2022)
THE LIFE THAT COULD BE YOURS (September 16, 2022)
GROWING IN GRACIOUSNESS (September 09, 2022)
WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT (September 02, 2022)
THE CHANGES YOU CAN’T SEE (August 26, 2022)
UNLIMITED (August 19, 2022)
JOURNEY TO JOY (August 12, 2022)
THE HIDDENNESS OF GRACE (August 05, 2022)
SLEEP LIKE A CHILD (July 29, 2022)
SPEAK QUIETLY TO ME (July 22, 2022)
AFTER THE FALL (July 15, 2022)
NET WORTH (July 08, 2022)
GRACE AWAKENINGS (July 01, 2022)
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