Peace on earth and goodwill to all people?
Christmas is traditionally a time where many people around the world celebrate the promise of peace associated with the coming of Messiah, who carries the additional title of Prince of Peace. Even in the midst of the terrible battles of World War 1, somewhere deep in the soldiers’ being was the sense that Christmas Day was a day for peace. On the 25th December 1914, British and German soldiers at the front ended up exchanging gifts and souvenirs, taking photos, singing songs and even playing a game of football together!
We all long for peace. As people of faith, Jesus promised peace many times, from verses such as John 14:27, “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you”, or Galatians 5:22, reminding us that peace is a quintessential part of the fruit of the Spirit. However, with all that is going on in the world, many of us struggle to find peace. If Jesus promised it for us, why do we seem to lose it so easily? And how do we have peace in the light of all that is not right?
A few days ago we returned from a quick trip to Uganda. Only short weeks out from Christmas, not to mention on the tail of the global upheaval caused by a tiny microorganism, travelling nearly halfway around the globe we had a plethora of opportunities to experience a lack of peace. From uncertainty about our first time out of the country in more than three years, where so much had changed, to the issue of whether our luggage would arrive with us, to finding ways to rest on a thirty plus hour journey; from food challenges and finding “places of convenience” (not to mention the level of confrontation we might find there, because, lets face it, sometimes PPE, a mask and gumboots are looking like serious options when travelling in developing countries!), to the threat of malaria weighed in with the side effects of antimalarials, not to mention driving in some very adverse conditions - so many cracks and crevices for our peace to leak out through.
Early on in our trip, I became aware of some background anxiety and pre-planning going on in my head about how I would manage such pre-empted issues around each upcoming day. I had a sudden realisation that I was trying to deal with this in my own strength and that I didn’t need to. I remembered that I could leave these things with my Heavenly Father, and that He would sort it all out for me. As I did that, I found that sometimes the situation would be well above my expectations, or that He had gone ahead and would provide the right opportunities or answers where I needed them.
A great example of the way God went ahead of us came very early on with our car hire. Five years ago, we had hired a Rav4 through a small company (there are no large car hire companies in Uganda), which was great, so we contacted them again. The day we arrived, the gentleman meeting us with the car apologised. The Rav4 had had “issues” that morning, so they had upgraded us for no extra cost to a Prado with eight seats, which had also been lifted to have greater clearance. This car proved invaluable so many times on our trip, from driving through boggy goat trails to a village, to being able to take quite a few others with us numerous times, to just our general comfort on some longer trips on often quite bad roads. And of course, functioning air conditioning was an absolute blessing, especially in the notorious Kampala traffic.
The added blessing of this vehicle was such a definite message from God that He was with us, that He knew all our needs (and even cared about our “would likes”). In acknowledging this was from God, it further expanded our faith, and hence, our peace. “Dad’s here, He’s got it all sorted ahead of time, just go for the ride with Him.”
Over the past couple of years, many of us have had ample opportunity to have our cracks and crevices where peace can leak out exposed – those places in our being where we are far more focussed on doing than be-ing, those areas where situations in the past have hurt and disappointed us and we are sure that this will be another, or even where fear still has a stronghold in our lives. In my journey through this season, when I have found myself short on peace God has been reminding me to go back to the place where I lost my peace. It is usually easy to pinpoint the moment. And so, I go back there and maybe forgive the person whose behaviour or words created the crack for my peace to leak out, or break my agreements with the fear that came from some source or other I had interacted with and sent it all back where it came from, in Jesus’ name. And wonderfully, my peace returns to me.
If you are in a place this Christmas where peace seems hard to find, let me encourage you that in Creator God, the source of all peace, there is an endless supply. Meet with Him today. Ask Him where you left your peace and who you need to forgive and/or what agreements you need to break. And may this season be one in which your peace deepens immeasurably and expands out to those around you.