ON EARTH, PEACE.
Kendra Intihar
Today’s Scripture: “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3-4, ESV
Theme: Lasting peace will come when people meet Jesus and choose Him as Lord; He is our peace.
PERPETUAL CHRISTMAS
You’re not gonna believe this because you are a living, breathing human being in the year 2023 with your very own eyes and a brain, but I’m going to say it anyway: Peace is here.
When the host of angels brought “good tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:10) and declared “peace on earth and good will toward men on whom God’s favor rests,” they were making a bold statement about who Jesus was and is.
In a world that had been certain peace could only come through fighting unjust violence and Roman occupation by using “just violence,” Jesus, born the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), was a very confusing, little, promised “warrior” wrapped in swaddling clothes. Instead of growing up as a zealot, He grew up as the scholarly son of a carpenter. In fact, it is integral to the Easter story that the disciples of Jesus, including Judas Iscariot, thought Jesus was going to lead them into battle instead of allowing Himself to be crucified! What a story that would’ve been!
But that was not God’s plan for the Prince of Peace or for us. The world was starving for a new kind of peace – a peace “not as the world gives,” (John 14:27) and Jesus provided it to us in His life, death, and resurrection. Christians, we should be living in perpetual Christmas, joyfully declaring the long-foretold arrival of the Messiah since the day He was born.
CITIZENS OF HEAVEN
When we confess and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, our citizenship is immediately transferred to the Kingdom of Heaven (Philippians 3:20). What joy! You and I belong to a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36)! The Spirit of God dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16), and we get to show the world what Jesus meant when He said, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Just as any ambassador from any nation brings greetings and news from one country to another, we are ambassadors of God’s Kingdom, bringing “good tidings of great joy” to a hurting world. We are emissaries of peace, which Jesus declared that we have in Him (John 16:33).
How do we know that God’s “law is love and His gospel is peace?” Because the Bible tells us so:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew, 5:9, NIV
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Colossians 3:15a, NIV
“Strive for peace with everyone.” Hebrews 12:14, ESV
“As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18, NIV
“A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” James 3:18, ESV
“Seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:14b, ESV
CHAOS TO PEACE
The pattern of this world is chaos. The pattern of this world is entropy. The pattern of this world is confusion. But God is a not a God of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). We are called not to “conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds. Then [we] will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2, NIV). And when we pray for God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10), guess who gets to be the messenger of God’s will? You. Me. Our brothers and sisters in Christ all over this world. Christians in Israel. Christians in Palestine. As my mama used to say, “We may be the only Bible some people ever read.”
Make it Personal: We have the most precious gift this world could ever know: Jesus Christ. He is the hope of this world and the only Way to lasting peace. The Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 7:21), which means that in Christ, you and I are also Peace on earth. Until He returns to this world for its ultimate renewal and restoration, we are the only window into God’s Kingdom. What does it look like there? Does it look like Jesus? Does it look like love? Joy? Peace? Does it look like patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? (Galatians 5:22-23). When others see us, may they get a glimpse of Heaven on earth.
Pray: Jesus, You have promised us that You have overcome the world! I pray that You would move powerfully in the hearts and minds of every person in conflict right now, whether believer or not-yet-believer. Holy Spirit, fill them so full to overflowing that You replace every ounce of fear, confusion, and chaos in their hearts with Your peace that surpasses all human understanding. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Read: John 18:36; Matthew 5:1-10; Isaiah 52:7
Weekly Memory Verse: “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:14-16, NIV