Who doesn’t want peace?
Our news and social media sources update us on real-time war realities. Tragic events happen. Sometimes it feels like we’re just trying to avoid the next relational, social, or political landmine. Our anxieties start to brew, and we wonder, when will we get just a little bit of peace?
We come hard-wired as human beings longing for peace. So, it’s no surprise that one of the four traditional themes of Advent is peace. For centuries the church has been spending intentional time trying to get back to peace.
My parents divorced when I was 2-years-old and I grew up with my grandparents – my dad’s parents.
But periodically – sporadically – never consistently, I would go to my dad’s house. He would pick me up and I’d stay with him. We’d do that a few nights in a row and then maybe a couple weeks would go by at my grandparents, and we’d do it again.
I had a bedroom at his house, but I never wanted to be in it. It was a small house, but it felt like a large, dark castle. A normal night at my dad’s house consisted of a lot of Budweiser and tv. He’d routinely pass out in the chair. I’d crawl around his recliner to retrieve the cordless telephone.
I’d pull the metal antenna out and call my grandma, whispering to make sure not to awaken my father. My grandma would then sing me to sleep from across the city while I laid on the couch, my dad and empty beer cans just a few feet away.
I’m not upset about my story, it has shaped me to be who I am today. God has redeemed me from a lot and used my story. I’m grateful. But that type of childhood is where the roots of my own anxieties began to take root. I’m just a normal guy who battles a low-grade anxiety most days because that was my environment. On an anxiety scale of 0-100, if most people start their day at 0, I start at 10 or 15 and fluctuate from there.
When I became a Christian, and God began to placed me on a trajectory of hope, I thought my anxieties would disappear. (Hey, a guy can hope!)
Philippians 4:6 says “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God.”
Are you anxious? Don’t be!
I’m joking, of course. I’m making jest here because that’s sometimes how Christians treat commands like this - stop doing X and start doing Y. This is a command that Christians can put to use and obey – prayer is essential - but the function of this entire passage is to call us OUT of anxiety TOWARD peace. God doesn’t ask us to stop doing something negative (anxiety) without inviting us into something positive (peace).
Here’s what I know to be true - I’m not united to anxiety. Even if anxiety or fear can hijack my emotions sometimes, I’m united to Christ. And being united to Christ transforms us emotionally. But not magically. We don’t just stumble into a healthy emotional life. It takes work. And Paul tells us that right here. We have to pray and get specific about our anxieties where we want God to work.
The Apostle Paul continues…
Don’t be anxious. Pray. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus… the God of peace will be with you. (Php 4:6-9)
Friends, Advent has something for your anxiety – it is the gift of peace.
Anxious people know they need help, but our instincts are to worry our way through doomsday scenarios with the illusion of being in control or prepared. But our union with Christ urges us to pray to the God who cares for us and move toward peace. We worry, of course, because we’re inclined to live self-sufficient lives. In fact, sometimes our anxieties persist because of our addiction to self-sufficiency. Anxiety and self-sufficiency live in a codependent relationship.
Every Advent, we read this famous passage from Isaiah 9:
For to us a child is born,
To us a son is given;
And the government shall be upon his shoulders,
And his name shall be called:
Wonderful Counselor -Mighty God – Everlasting Father – Prince of Peace.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was hoisted up on the cross to finish the war for your peace. He died and rose again so that you could participate in true – everlasting peace with God.
Your relationships and your anxieties can literally be different because you are united to the Prince of Peace.
In Jesus Christ, the God of peace is with us. The Father who has MADE peace; the son who IS the Prince of Peace; the Spirit who bears the fruit of peace in our lives – HE is WITH US.
May your Advent season be filled with the costly but amazing gift of God’s peace.
