Peace On Earth
2003 Advent Devotional Collection
Monday, December 1
Reading for Today: Philippians 4:4-7
"And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". Philippians 4:7
The first Christmas greeting was voiced by the angels over the Bethlehem plains, who announced the birth of the One of whom it would later be said, “He is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:14) But the Judean shepherds would remember the hymn of praise in which the angels announced a new age of “peace on earth.”
Surely it seemed a bit premature and presumptuous to declare peace in a world that was racked with violence and hostility! And even today, in the land that hosted the birth of Christ, there is a tragic lack of peace.
But peace is not something that we can create, or, for that matter, destroy. It is a divine quality, which God gives to those who release their anxieties and fears to him.
There is a silly little exercise that I like to go through when I am in wide-open spaces. I look to the distant horizon in one direction, and as I see that faraway vista, I say to myself, “God is there.” Then I turn in another direction, and look as far as I can, and say of that distant vista, “God is there, too.” And I do that as I face every direction. Then – though it is childish, I know – I say to myself, “if God is present at each of those distant points, completely encircling me, then I must be right in the very center of the presence of God!”
And it is when we place ourselves – by trust and obedience – in the very center of God’s will, that we know peace, no matter what storms of life may be assailing us. It is as St. Augustine said, “In His will is our peace.”
Prayer for Today:
O Lord, forgive us when we seek to find peace in all the wrong places.
Today we take your hand and allow your perfect love to encircle us with
the tranquil spirit that only You can give. Amen.
Bill and Claudine N.
Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
(217) 428-4336