Peace On Earth Starts With You & Me
Peace at Christmastime? Every year I struggle with the ironic phrase. The phrase “peace on Earth, good will to men” up to now stuck in my craw a tad. Why? It sounds so “pie in the sky.” This year I realized a Bible verse in Luke and a misconception stemming from show biz are to blame. A tweaked, parphrased recitation we hear in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” differs greatly from the verse found in Luke 2:14. The actual biblical text states that the angel and a multitude of others praised God saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Linus simply recites “peace, good will to men.” However, I recently experienced radical epiphany regarding the nature and scope of world peace: Peace on Earth Starts With You & Me.
The Irony of Anticipating Peace in a Broken World
Every year right before Christmas, a little cloud would descend over me as the big day neared. News of famine, war, crime and other distressing conditions on our planet struck me as ironic when we would sing in church about peace. Because our broken world is anything but peaceful. How could we ever expect to “sleep in heavenly peace” as the words from “Silent Night” suggested, while war is waged, families shatter and crime proliferates?
Hoping to gain additional insight, I took a closer look at the verse. Our all-inclusive God welcomes everyone to His table but does not promise to evenly distribute peace and magically blanket it over the entirety of our broken world. What He does do is offer it to everyone who approaches Him with a humble heart. Our Lord bestows peace on those who acknowledge their profound need for Him and invite Him into their hearts to rule and reign there. In Luke 2:14, the apostle states that this peace on Earth is available to “those with whom He is pleased.” Because it’s only made possible through relationship with God himself. We’ll get into more of that in a bit but first let’s look at peace itself.
Accountability in Fostering Peace
Peace by definition refers to a state of security or order within a community. It can also mean freedom from disquieting thoughts or emotions. As I pondered those definitions, the idea of peace when in communion with God became more clear to me. I began to understand the distribution process of divine peace, and as a result my expectation of what that looks like this side of eternity changed dramatically. I read, with fresh new eyes, Romans 12:18: “if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Suddenly I saw that this did not mean everyone receives perfect peace or the world is suddenly free from strife. God charges each of us with the responsibility of resting in God’s peace. But we are also charged to promote and foster it to the best of our ability.
Godly individuals ideally discern and set an intention to live their lives in a way that reflects and emanates peace received. But challenging circumstances trip up even the most devoted Christ followers. We can mask our emotions or undermine peace when pride stands in the way of our humility and authenticity. Both of these options not only do little to foster peace in relationships, in our communities and in our world, they actually undermine and sometimes obliterate it.
Do You Keep, Take Or Fake Peace?
This raises a million dollar question: do you keep the peace? At our church, we’ve been listening to a sermon series about peace. In it, Pastor Andy Wood identified three kinds of people: peace fakers, peace takers and peace makers. Inauthentic individuals who pretend everything is okay when it’s not exemplify the peace faking group. People who wage war with everyone, perhaps even themselves, stir the pot, and draw swords at every opportunity fall into the peace taker category. They generate conflict rather than resolving or diffusing it. As for humble humans who generate, promote and sustain peace, they make up the peacemaking category.
I like how Proverbs 17:17 calls out the peace fakers. There we read “Better to be lowly and have a servant that play the great man and lack bread.” People who pretend they lead problem free lives don’t fool anyone for very long. The light of truth eventually shines on the peace faker’s charade. Peace faking also waters down the nature of Christian brotherhood. We are told in Galatians 6:2 to “bear one another’s burdens,” not pretend they don’t exist. It’s hard to relate to individuals perpetuating a masquerade and such facades prove off putting to others.
Peace takers also show their true colors eventually. “A hot tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel,” as Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 15:18. Peace takers can suck harmony and serenity out of a room with lightening speed. They force a smile, dispensing divisive, inflammatory comments in their prideful quest to conquer and divide. They thrive living at odds with others drawing so-called boundaries at the expense of harmony and restored relationship.
So I’m authentically willing to admit that I’ve faked and taken peace as much and probably even more often than I have made it. However, I learned in recent years to lay down my right to be right. And even apologize, despite blame and fault factors and other obstacles to peacemaking.
A few years back, a close friend severed ties with me due to a comment I made that she misinterpreted. I clarified and apologized immediately but the other party refused my olive branch. I admit I initially burned with anger as my discarded branches piled high. But instead of lashing out, the Lord taught me to pray at every turn to continually behave in a peacekeeping manner. And, in God’s strength, I prevailed. But believe me, I fought against every retaliatory bone in my body.
As I did, the Lord showed me from moment to moment how to respond in serenity to promote harmony rather than further agitating the situation. And that experience enabled me to set the bar for imminent future altercations with others knowing that the path to peace begins with me in my relationships and in my global dealings too.
Sadly, that educational conflict remains unresolved. But I followed God’s lead every step of the way. I am not responsible for the results, only my obedience. And the same is true for you. I’m working on practicing the art of consistent peacemaking. And the more I do that, the more I see that humility is the key. Jesus perfectly modeled this for us. At the end of His life when others struck Him, whipped Him, ridiculed Him and eventually crucified Him, we are told He “opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7.)
The Only Recipients of Peace On Earth
Perhaps the greatest irony found in the “peace on Earth” phrase involves this truth: it is only available to those who welcome Jesus into the inn of their hearts. Peace may not be purchased, earned or given from one human being to another. That’s why the angels announced the arrival of peace on Earth at Jesus’s birth. Only He could bring it! The angels specified that God grants it to those who please Him.
It’s important to note that it’s tempting to misinterpret this as earning the gift of peace. But what it means is that when we worship, obey and follow God, pleasing Him follows. Though we aren’t perfect, we are sanctified and preserved until the day Christ comes again to take us home. We find peace in knowing that day will eventually come and a new hope and future await us!
In light of these lessons, I’m more focused than ever not only in setting an intention to promote peace but also in helping others discover how it’s available to them. Perhaps the most important way we can promote peace involves showing others who the only Source of Peace is and how they can tap into it. Join me in not just taking up the olive branch, but pointing people to the true branch, Jesus Christ. In the meantime, may the peace of God available to those who love our Lord envelope you and comfort you no matter what adversity swirls around you in our troubled world. And join me in remembering no matter what you face that Peace Starts With You & Me.
