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
WHY WE FORGIVE (July 31, 2020)
CAN'T HELP OURSELVES (July 24, 2020)
SAY 'THANK YOU' (July 17, 2020)
BELIEVABLY GOOD NEWS (July 10, 2020)
OPENING THE GATES (July 3, 2020)
ONE GOOD WORK (June 26, 2020)
WALKING TOGETHER (June 19, 2020)
RIGHTING OUR OWN WRONGS (June 12, 2020)
FIRST PERSONAL PLURAL (June 5, 2020)
WIDENING THE CIRCLE (May 29, 2020)
RECEIVED—AND GIVEN (May 22, 2020)
GRACE WITHOUT FEAR (May 15, 2020)
GRACE WHILE WE WAIT (May 8, 2020)
GRACE REACHING (May 1, 2020)
ALL OF GRACE (APRIL 24, 2020)
TRUSTING WHAT'S TRUE (April 17, 2020)
MORNING HAS BROKEN (April 10, 2020)
WHEN I'M AFRAID (April 3, 2020)
ALONE, NOT LONELY (MARCH 27, 2020)
GRACE DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
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