Merry Christmas from L.E. Levens and Friends! Listen to the below song, read the scripture, and then enjoy the devotional! This is how all the devotionals from today until Dec 24th will work.Thank you for joining myself and the eight guest writers who have contributed to this Advent countdown!
“For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 NIV
Is it just me, or does there seem to be very little peace on earth these days?
Across the sea, wars rage and innocent people get hurt. Here at home, our land is divided over political parties and opinions. There seems to be nowhere on earth we can run from the fear and anxiety.
But then again, ever since the Garden, we’ve never had true peace all the way around.
At the time of Jesus' birth, the Roman Empire had taken control of Judea. Out of spite, the Romans had renamed the area, “Palestine” after the Jews’ traditional enemy, the Philistines.
Sure. They Jews’ had an older religion, and so the Romans allowed them to continue worshipping Yahweh. But that didn’t stop Caesar Augustus from taxing them. It didn’t stop Zealots, infuriated by the Roman occupation, from rising up and eventually being caught and killed publicly.
At this time in history, just as at any other, there was great woe and strife especially for the people of God.
And when a certain native teenage girl from Galilee found out that she was to bear the Son of God and long awaited Messiah of her people, I’m sure things didn’t exactly calm down for her and all those involved.
So at this time of Christmas, when we all feel perhaps a little more joyful or a little more aware of how awful this world really is, where can we find peace?
Where can we find peace throughout the rest of the year when things happen that haunt us and hurt us?
Jesus is the reason for the season, but He’s also the only cure for our broken world. We will never find true perfection of any kind in this world apart from God. Everyone everywhere is fragmented, though some perhaps more or less than others. I know you’ve heard it said before, so I’ll give you a new look at it.
The Prince of Peace has not yet come to fix the world, but he has already come to give those who welcome Him a way to not only survive, but thrive in it.
In the song, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”, The American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was demonstrating the difference between the Christmas he found himself in, and the Christmas that he felt should have been. He’d been through some hard stuff. Loss and anxiety. Medical issues. He’d lost his wife tragically not too long ago, and now he was a widower trying to raise his children.
But as the song ends, we get this sense that hope won out in the poet’s heart. And it didn’t come from a job that paid millions, a bigger house, a successful family or anything getting any easier.
It came from the realization that there was something greater than any pain or fear he could have ever experienced. It came from knowing that though he suffered now, there was a reason for it and someday there would be an end to it.
This Christmas season I encourage you to seek peace not from everything going right, but from the fact that we have things to be grateful for, and a Savior to celebrate who loves us. He knows and he cares that your bundt cake for the Christmas party didn’t get cooked all the way through! But maybe the underdone cake is a sign that you need to rely on something, or rather Someone, else for your peace this year.
Merry Christmas to you all! If you are curious about the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s song, you can click here to read about it. Tune in tomorrow to hear from our first guest writer! Until then, Ad Lucem!
-L.E. Levens
Taylor, Justin. “The True Story Behind “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
The Gospel Coalition. December 21, 2019.
I love this!! Such a good reminder! <3
This is such a sweet reminder!