On making peace
Peace. That is the candle for week 2 of advent... at least the meaning I like to assign. It can also be known as the preparation candle which can tie into peace very nicely.
God opened my eyes yesterday to a new way of viewing peace. Peace is often talked about in the church and here's how it's often discussed. We are a people who desire order and calm and often find ourselves in the midst of a storm feeling like we have no peace. Christ has come and those who believe in Him have peace. It is not absence of the storm, but knowing God is present in the midst of the storm. We have peace. (all true by the way)
But our faith is not just a way to have peace, our faith is the means with which we make peace. I started thinking about making peace instead of just having peace.. Peace is something that can be offered- to make peace with a brother or sister- to make a treaty of peace with an enemy.
A peace offering says, "I am on your side. We fight together."
Jesus came to make peace by being our peace offering. The peace and harmony that Adam and Eve had in the garden with the Lord was shattered when they ate the fruit from the tree. Their sin is no greater or different than ours. We are broken people, lost on our own. God, who so caringly and magnificently created the earth, the plants, and the animals, who then sweetly and tenderly formed a man out of dust and breathed life into him, who knew his needs and created woman for him, could have turned his back. He would have had every right. But that is not who God is. God is a God of peace. When we, the sinners, should have been the ones to offer peace, we stood there empty handed and naked.
Baby Jesus is the coming of that peace.
God gave His only son as the peace offering because he knew we had nothing.
He has been giving to us from the very beginning of time when he clothed Adam and Even after they hid because they were ashamed and now we are clothed with Christ and we no longer carry our sin and shame.
We are called to be peacemakers- to be active in reconciling people to God. Making peace is active, not passive. We do not sit back praying to merely have peace, but to make peace first with God by accepting His peace and then to make peace with others.
Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God." The heart of a peacemaker is to prolaim Jesus' name and to desire to join Him in restoring all things to Him. That is the heart of a Christian. To be a christian is to be a peacemaker. After Jesus had risen from the dead he met some of his disciples walking on the road and said, "'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' After saying this, He breathed on them and said, 'Recieve the Holy Spirit.'" [John 20:21-22]. Jesus fills them with the Holy Spirit. He fills them with peace. He sends them out.
To believe in Jesus is to have peace.
To be like Jesus is to make peace.
God opened my eyes yesterday to a new way of viewing peace. Peace is often talked about in the church and here's how it's often discussed. We are a people who desire order and calm and often find ourselves in the midst of a storm feeling like we have no peace. Christ has come and those who believe in Him have peace. It is not absence of the storm, but knowing God is present in the midst of the storm. We have peace. (all true by the way)
But our faith is not just a way to have peace, our faith is the means with which we make peace. I started thinking about making peace instead of just having peace.. Peace is something that can be offered- to make peace with a brother or sister- to make a treaty of peace with an enemy.
A peace offering says, "I am on your side. We fight together."
Jesus came to make peace by being our peace offering. The peace and harmony that Adam and Eve had in the garden with the Lord was shattered when they ate the fruit from the tree. Their sin is no greater or different than ours. We are broken people, lost on our own. God, who so caringly and magnificently created the earth, the plants, and the animals, who then sweetly and tenderly formed a man out of dust and breathed life into him, who knew his needs and created woman for him, could have turned his back. He would have had every right. But that is not who God is. God is a God of peace. When we, the sinners, should have been the ones to offer peace, we stood there empty handed and naked.
Baby Jesus is the coming of that peace.
God gave His only son as the peace offering because he knew we had nothing.
He has been giving to us from the very beginning of time when he clothed Adam and Even after they hid because they were ashamed and now we are clothed with Christ and we no longer carry our sin and shame.
We are called to be peacemakers- to be active in reconciling people to God. Making peace is active, not passive. We do not sit back praying to merely have peace, but to make peace first with God by accepting His peace and then to make peace with others.
Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God." The heart of a peacemaker is to prolaim Jesus' name and to desire to join Him in restoring all things to Him. That is the heart of a Christian. To be a christian is to be a peacemaker. After Jesus had risen from the dead he met some of his disciples walking on the road and said, "'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' After saying this, He breathed on them and said, 'Recieve the Holy Spirit.'" [John 20:21-22]. Jesus fills them with the Holy Spirit. He fills them with peace. He sends them out.
To believe in Jesus is to have peace.
To be like Jesus is to make peace.
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