PEACE : Advent: Week 4
Peace.
It is a word that seems to draw us in a little closer. It’s a deep breath alone in the car after the turmoil around us tempts us to despair, to become anxious, and to get out gaze off of the important parts of life.
It’s a word that may spark winter images of hot cocoa by the fire. Peace and quiet with just a moment to ourselves.
Maybe it’s something you are craving right now, maybe because family time during the holidays seem to go awry.
“Prince of Peace”, we whisper. “Please give me rest.”
But in fact, this peace I’ve just mentioned is a diluted version of what is truly meant here. Our comfort culture has cheapened the richness of peace.
This peace is SHALOM.
SHALOM is not just a rest but it is a wholeness, a completeness, and a uniting of relationship. It’s a sacred declaration of full unity.
Peace with us because Christ has come to call us into Himself. He came to provide SHALOM to our broken world and shattered, sin-stained souls.
The relationship with our just and holy God we broke in the garden, Christ came to restore. And He paints His tapestry of SHALOM throughout history, starting with Genesis.
Do a search of peace in your copy of God’s word and be amazed at our sweet, kind Father who gave to us the Prince of Peace even though we turn astray, each one their own way, to bring us back to a whole, complete, right relationship with Himself.
This peace is greater than an internal rest or moment of relaxation. This is a peace that comes from the King of Kings Himself, and it is a decree available to us all. No longer an anxious orphan but belonging into a kingdom.
And no one can thwart His royalty. No one will conquer Him. So why do we fret as though we may be broken again? In Christ, we are totally whole and complete, though our outer bodies run ragged. This eternal, supernatural, sin-conquering peace is better than any coffee-by-the-fire moment we could ever have.
Turn your gaze upon the Prince of Peace, the restorer of your soul. Rest your self-striving at His feet with worship and gratitude: He has come restoring us unto Himself by His work. All we need to is just come.
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