At Christmas - God's Gift Of Peace

"Today's Devotion" For December 7, 2005

Read: Isaiah 9:1-6; Romans 5:1-11

AT CHRISTMAS - GOD'S GIFT OF PEACE

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1)

It was early on a Sunday morning. People were waking up to have breakfast, some getting ready for church, others going for walks along the beach, and still others were returning to their residences after a night on the town. It was a clear morning by all accounts. The sun was shining and the sky was blue with hardly a cloud to be seen. It was the dawn of a peaceful and still day - a perfect sabbath day of rest.

In another part of the nation, people were returning from church, having brunch, taking drives in the country, or sitting on their front porches. For them it was like any other Sunday, filled with the activities they normally experienced on the weekend. And then came the stunner! For most people, the news blaring from their radios that day was both stunning and befuddling at the same time. Pearl Harbor had been bombed. A large portion of the United States' Pacific Fleet had been sent to the bottom of the harbor by planes from the Empire of Japan. Many people hearing the news weren't just stunned, they were befuddled. Where in the world was Pearl Harbor? In Hawaii? Just where is Hawaii?

The date of all this? December 7, 1941. "A day," as President Franklin Roosevelt once described it, "that will go down in infamy." Storm clouds had been gathering for a long time. Europe was already at war. Germany had invaded and controlled France, Belgium, Poland, and most of the rest of the continent. England was being systematically bombed and reduced to rubble. Japan had been making rumblings as well. The Empire of Japan had invaded China and was gobbling up territory on the Pacific Rim in huge chunks. Even the Soviet Union had lost territory to Japan. At the very time that the attack occurred on Pearl Harbor, according to most accounts, the Japanese ambassador was meeting at the State Department in Washington, D. C. to discuss improving relations between the U. S. and Japan.

Twenty-three years earlier, "the war to end all wars." World War I had ended with the Treaty of Versailles. War had, however broken out two years earlier when Hitler and his Nazi henchmen led the German Army to blitzkrieg Europe and control the continent. Desiring peace, the United States did its best to stay out of the war. The war that was forced upon the nation that terrible Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 would be the most terrible the world had ever known. Millions would die. Millions would lose their homes and property. Millions would never be born. Millions would carry the ravages of war in their minds and bodies for the rest of their lives.

We're at war again today. That elusive peace and tranquility the founders of the nation sought always seems to be just out of our grasp. Our troops are fighting totalitarianism, under the guise of "holy war." The world faces terrorism once again only with different faces and different methods. Iraq and Afghanistan have taken the place of Poland, France, and Belgium. El -Alamein has been replaced with Fallujah; the Gestapo with Al-Quaeda and the Taliban; Hitler with Osama bin Laden; Goebels with Zaraqawi. Different players- same old story -people determined to control the lives of others, by force if necessary. Peace is a most elusive and slippery dream, always seeming to be within our grasp, yet always eluding us after being seemingly contained for a short time.

So why the history lesson? It could be said that the best reason is the old saying that, "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." However, if the truth be told, such a look at history is a good reminder that peace in this world is fleeting at best. There will always be those who seek to have power over others and determine how they should live. Because of Sin, we human beings are, by nature, more inclined to "play God" than to be His creatures. Those who seek to control others, whether on the world stage or domestically, always manage to make peace a fleeting dream. Worst of all, because of Sin people aren't just at odds with each other, but with God as well. To be at war with God can't lead to anything good. To be at war with God is to lose all possibility of peace of any kind.

One of God's gifts to the world was His offer of peace with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. The very peace we human beings truly desire, peace in our hearts and minds - all truly prerequisite of peace among men - we can't attain on our own. Such peace is dependent, despite what all the self-help gurus say, on our relationship with God. Such peace is dependent on God's grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. From the beginning, after the Fall, God continued to promise deliverance from the war that Sin and Satan wage with us every day. The prophets continued to remind the people of God of those promises, as Isaiah does in our reading for today. On that most blessed and holy night of Jesus' birth over 2,000 years ago, the angel choir proclaimed God's peace to the world as they announced the Savior's birth to the shepherds in the fields surrounding Bethlehem.(Luke 2). That promise of peace continued to be proclaimed by the Apostles, as St. Paul notes in our reading and verse above.

God's gift of peace is Jesus. In Him we have the forgiveness of sins. In Him we are brought into a full and right relationship with God, made righteous in His blood, and assured of the sure hope if eternal life in heaven. Wars and rumors of war will always continue as long as the earth stands. Nations will rise up against nations and people against their neighbors (Mt. 24). Yet, no matter the deadliness and depravity of war, no matter evil's intent to destroy God's creation and ignore His will, we who are in Christ Jesus are still filled with peace - God's peace. We can face every obstacle, overcome every doubt, and accomplish any mission God has for us because He has made us His own, washed us clean from our sins and has placed His peace in our hearts. Our Christmas preparation and celebration is a marvelous reminder of the "HIStory" of God's love and forgiveness, His compassion and strength given to His people. We are the latest recipients of His peace. We rejoice in it and share it with others.

Prayer: Father, as I look back into the history of the world and even, just my own life's history, I'm reminded that You have always been present. Your handprint is seen everywhere in Creation and in history. Even during times of war, Your love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness abounded. In each conflict, either in the past or the present, You have provided opportunities for people to turn to You for salvation and peace. Your peace is the most essential peace I need; it's the most essential peace the world needs. As I approach the Christmas celebration and also remember the horrible things people have done to one another because of Sin, help me to rejoice in Your peace and forgiveness. Help me to use the power You give me and all Your children to overcome the world by faith in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, so that I might be an effective and winsome witness to Your love and forgiveness in Him. In Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright ©2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.