It had been a long, tiring day. A day full of frustrations. Plans so carefully laid in the morning had been forcefully set aside by evening. Good intentions for a day of accomplishment had been ruthlessly destroyed by many intrusions. Now it was night, and cold, and lonely. No one around. No one to listen to the day’s pain. Just trudging on, under a star-lit sky, doing what had to be done, but doing it with anxiety and worry about what tomorrow might bring. It had been a long, tiring, frustrating day.
And so when I got home that night, I sat down and wept a little. I ventilated my feelings about nothing in particular and everything in general. It was not the kind of day I had wanted. It was not the sort of day I had planned. It didn’t go according to my specifications, so I wept a little.
Into my weary heart came a sentence that someone had used earlier in the week. That person had been dealing with a very difficult situation, and summed it up by saying, “Satan sure is busy around here.” I felt that same thing. Now I am not one to run around blaming everything on Satan, but sometimes it’s the only explanation that seems to work. I thought about how, on the very heels of something wonderful that had happened to that person, she had entered tremendous conflict. It made sense for her to say, “Satan sure is busy around here.” I thought about how, when someone else had made such great strides forward in dealing with life issues, suddenly he had fallen backwards. It made sense to say, “Satan sure is busy around here.” I remembered the time and emotion and money some of us had invested in helping another person make progress, but suddenly he had turned suspicious. What else do you say but, “Satan sure is busy around here?” I wept a little that night. It had been a long, tiring day. A frustrating day. And I wanted peace. I just wanted peace.
So where does peace begin? Where do we get peace and when and how? When the things for which we work do not come, and anxiety takes over, where does peace begin? When the people in whom we invest turn against us, where does peace begin? When the things we care the most about are shredded, and anger rises within us, where are we going to find peace?
I invite you today to watch and see how God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven. I invite you today to the crib-side of the prince of peace, there to discover where peace begins.
I
Where does peace begin? First, peace begins at exactly the same place where non-peace begins – in our own hearts. If we are going to look for peace, we cannot expect somebody just to hand it to us. Peace arises from within. Peace will come from inside. Peace begins inside our own hearts because that is also where non-peace begins.
Let me look at that negative side. The discord side.
When things are not going well, we start to think that it’s all about us. When there’s trouble, it’s all about us. Either we blame ourselves for everything that goes wrong, or we blame others and think they are out to get us. Either way, the issue is that discord and unrest have come from inside. Discord comes from the way we handle the challenges that others throw at us.
Have you ever been the victim of injustice? Oh, that boss of yours, he just has it in for you! That teacher in your school, she never has liked you! That neighbor – everything you do makes him unhappy. You’ve been the victim of injustice. There’s somebody, somewhere, that doesn’t like you and won’t let go.
Now the issue is that we let that get to us. We let injustice take us over. When somebody attacks us, instead of shrugging if off, we halfway believe what they say. We take that malice to heart.
When that happens, who wins? When I let others’ attacks get to me, who wins the battle? Well, I surely don’t. My enemy wins. And Satan wins. Satan gets busy and tempts us to buy into the garbage that others throw out at us. So the discord begins inside our own hearts. If we don’t have peace, it is not so much what others do to us, but with how we perceive what they do, and how we take it in and own it and let it inside.
So the psalmist is right on target when he urges:
Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
Do not fret because of the wicked. Literally the word “fret” means, “get heated up.” Don’t get all hot and bothered because someone treats you unjustly. Don’t get bent out of shape because of what someone is doing to you. Don’t be seduced into believing that what they say is the whole picture. Don’t be trapped into thinking that their negativism is all there is. There is always more.
The issue is that when things go negative, we think that it’s all about us. Our feelings take over. Our bruised egos want to be massaged. But I will tell you that in ninety percent of the conflicts I see, there would be no effect at all if the person being attacked did not halfway believe that he deserved to be attacked. We will not have peace until we realize that non-peace does not come from somebody else’s hostility. Discord comes from the way we handle what others do around us. “Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers.”
Where does peace begin? Peace begins with a healthy self. Peace begins when we see that the stuff that happens around us is whatever it is, but that it is who we are in our spirits that determines whether it will draw us down. Peace begins within; “fret not because of the wicked.”
II
But, then, also, peace is rooted in right relationships. Peace comes when in your life there is someone to whom you can turn, who always has your best interests at heart. Peace comes when you are in fellowship with someone who cares more about you, just as you are, than about any mistakes you’ve made. Peace is rooted in right relationships. I’ll go a step further; peace is rooted in redemptive relationships.
Some of us have been given deficit personalities. Deficit personalities are those who never have enough. They are always needy. I don’t mean materially; I mean emotionally. There are some persons who were deprived of the kind of love that every child deserves. They will grow up able to conduct business and live as generally useful citizens. But as deficit personalities they will never be happy with their accomplishments. Deficit personalities will never be satisfied with their achievements. That inner voice will keep saying, “You’re not good enough, you’re not good enough.” And left to himself, a deficit person will always feel unappreciated. Deficit personalities are always needy as long as they are alone.
As long as they are alone! But something very special happens for some of us, and that is that we find a soul mate. We find a person who loves us and cares for us just as we are, warts and all. Let me tell you, when you have that, you have something. You have something that is redemptive and powerful and peace making. Peace can be built out of redemptive relationships.
When I went home that night and wept, I did not do so alone. I did not get off into a corner and sob silently into the night. I did not sit in the dark and allow anger to fester. No, I went home to somebody who has somehow loved me and accepted me for forty years, and I let it all hang out. She didn’t say much. She didn’t lather me with pious platitudes. She certainly didn’t come up with sickly sweet stuff along the lines of, “You poor dear, let me bring you your slippers and fix you a stiff drink!” She isn’t going to do that, but that isn’t what I needed anyway. All I really needed was to see the face of someone who cared profoundly for me and for my hurts. All I really needed was to know that another’s heart was beating in synch with mine. All I really needed to know was that somebody was there for me, no matter what. And that brings peace. Peace comes from redemptive relationships.
Is it any mystery, then, that the psalmist tells us what to do?
Trust in the LORD, and do good … Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. … Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.
Did you hear all those imperatives? Trust, delight, commit, rest. Wait patiently. The heart of the good news is this: that God loves us. God loves us radically. God is here for us. God loves us enough to send His son to live among us, to experience what we experience, to hurt where we get hurt. God loves us. God loves us enough to send His son to live and even to die among us, experiencing the very worst that this world and its multiplied have to give. God loves us; He is committed to us. And that makes all the difference. So can we not wait for Him to keep His promise? Can we not just let God be God, and wait patiently, if He loves us this much?
Someone said to me this week, “I feel like I must be a bad person, and that’s why I’m not getting what I need in life.” I reply, with all the conviction in my soul, “God loves you. God loves you. He is not punishing you. Keep praying, stay in fellowship with Him, trust Him, wait for Him, and it will come.” Peace comes out of committed, redemptive relationships. Peace comes out of the love of the living God, whose love is unconditional and whose heart is ever toward us. Where does peace begin? Peace begins with redemptive relationships.
III
And so this prince of peace, this babe of Bethlehem? What has He to do with this? The angels announced at His birth, “And on earth peace”. What has He to do with peace?
It had been a long, tiring day. A day full of frustrations. Plans so carefully laid in the morning had been forcefully set aside by evening. Good intentions for a day of accomplishment had been ruthlessly destroyed by many intrusions. Now it was night, and cold, and lonely. No one around. No one to listen to the day’s pain. Just trudging on, under a star-lit sky, doing what had to be done, but doing it with anxiety and worry about what tomorrow might bring. It had been a long, tiring, frustrating day.
Mary and Joseph had left home hearing the sneers and insults of the “good people” of Nazareth. “A child born of the Holy Spirit? Who ever heard of such a thing?” They knew better and they said so. Mary and Joseph had left home feeling the attacks on their character. An opportunity for Satan; a chance for discord.
Mary and Joseph could not have wanted a long trip now, with her so far along in her pregnancy. But the powers that be said, “Go”, and so they went. Frustrating. Not in the plan. An opportunity for Satan; a chance for discord.
And then, arriving in the city, to be told there was no room. Painful. Frightening. Anxious. Could have become a hostile moment. Was Satan getting busy again? An opportunity for Satan; a chance for discord.
And she brought forth her first-born son. In loneliness. No mother, no sister, no midwife. Just a fumbling husband, scared out of his skull. An opportunity for Satan; a chance for discord.
But, look again. Oh, my soul, look again. What child is this? Who is He, in yonder stall? This is the Lord of heaven, come down to us as a sign of unending love. This is the word made flesh, come into our world to accept us and love us just as we are. This is He for whom and by whom all things were made, but now He confines Himself to a few delicate pounds of human flesh to tell us that He wants to be with us. That He is coming to redeem us. That He is here to bring us home to Himself.
What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping? This, this is Christ the king! This is the instrument of peace, for as he lives our kind of life, we know that He cares for us. This is the instrument of peace, for as He shares our plight, we know that God is near, God cares, God loves. In this small package, in this tiny sign, God is here to stay, God is willing to go to any length for us, God is committed to us.
It had been a long, tiring day. A day full of frustrations. Plans so carefully laid in the morning had been forcefully set aside by evening. Good intentions for a day of accomplishment had been ruthlessly destroyed by many intrusions. Now it was night, and cold, and lonely. No one around. No one to listen to the day’s pain. Just trudging on, under a star-lit sky, doing what had to be done, but doing it with anxiety and worry about what tomorrow might bring. It had been a long, tiring, frustrating day.
But when the morning came, the doorbell rang, and there stood a messenger, bearing a gift. A basket of fruit from someone expressing thanks for services rendered. Fruit, a card, a word of affirmation. I went home that day on cloud nine. I went home that day with joy and fulfillment in my soul. I went home a man changed entirely from twenty-four hours before. I went home at peace.
You say, but it’s only a small gift, just a little thing. Ah, but, like God’s small gift of the babe of Bethlehem, the gift of peace. Like God’s little one, the prince of peace, the sign of love, the mark of hope, the token of relationship.
Where does peace come from? Is Satan still busy?
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be … But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Satan, get busy all you want. In the babe of Bethlehem God has announced His love, and it’s all we need. Satan, do your worst to unsettle us. In the child of the lonely stable God has given us the prince of peace, and of His kingdom and His reign there shall be no end. The abundance of peace.
Where does peace begin? Peace begins with Christ.
