There’s no money in peace.
We live in a world where the absence of peace means making a living for far too many. From a trillion-dollar world military complex, to drug companies, to health food stores, to ‘safe’ toy makers, to political activists, to culture-warring Christians, ‘seeking peace’ can mean a wonderfully full cash flow, a guaranteed profit margin, and a spot on the nightly news. And it only costs us something we don’t really know anyway.
People in a fallen world aren’t wired for peace. Sin has made peace impossible on all fronts: no peace with the world around us, no peace with each other, and no peace with God.
The only true peace people could look forward to were fleeting moments seeking and worshiping God and hoping for peace in the end: the end of life, the end of the world – neither of which were particularly good prospects and neither rarely came soon enough.
This changed however, for at least two people 2000 years ago. A teenage virgin found out she was pregnant in a culture ready to shun and even kill her for it. Her older fiancée faced social shame and mockery. These two people found peace on earth when they found out who this child would be. The child they helped bring into the world in a stable brought peace to isolated shepherds on the night of his birth. 2 years later, men from the East came and peace was upon them.
Later this child grew to become a man of peace for thousands, and upon his death, granted the opportunity for peace to all. We may now know the beginnings of reconciliation with the world around us, the people around us, and with God.
Peace can be yours now because of Christmas.
WK
