Friday, December 23, 2011
Luke 2:10, 14 "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news ... on earth peace, goodwill to men."
PEACE -- GOODWILL
Life is unpredictable! When Robert Burns plowed up a mouse's nest on his farm, he realized that it was something the mouse hadn't counted on right before winter, and then thought about how unexpected things happen to upset our plans also. We never plan on having our home demolished, our health demolished, or our hopes dashed.
Peace ... goodwill -- we hear those words so often that it might surprise us to find that neither peace nor goodwill prevail among people of the world, not even in the twenty-first century! Even when nations are not in a declared war, there is conflict all around, and the most dangerous call a police officer can get is to settle a domestic dispute. The majority of people in the world are not motivated by goodwill, but rather by threats of punishment or promise of reward. Yet "peace ... goodwill" was how the angel host characterized the glory of Christmas!
And there is peace, even now, in knowing that there is One to whom we may bring all our cares and sorrows and broken dreams. There is One who "has our back," who can foil every attempt of the Evil One and turn it into good. He who was able to turn the darkest hour of crucifixion into the light of eternal day for us is surely able to bring us blessing also from every lesser tragedy and every dream destroyed in our lives.
This is the peace and favor of God that lay in a manger!
Not one He will or can forsake
Who Him his confidence doth make.
Let all his wiles the Tempter try,
You may his utmost powers defy.
