This fourth week of Advent, we will light the final purple candle. The candle of peace.
What is peace?
Have you ever noticed that most dictionaries define peace as the absence of something?
Whether it’s war, conflict, turmoil, chaos, discord, fear, anxiety, or something else that stirs us up in an uncomfortable way–peace is defined as its absence.
But in God’s Word and words written from its perspective, peace is defined differently. Peace is the presence of God.
If God is there, there is peace. In war. In conflict. In turmoil. In chaos. In discord. In fear. In anxiety. In anything that stirs us up.
If God is there,
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There is peace.
A peace blessing.
I’ve mentioned before that each day I leave my mom’s room, she sends me out with a benediction of sorts. “Be careful. And by that, I mean lock your doors. All of them.” She says the same thing. Every time I leave.
Except when a virus is rampant. Then she says, “Be careful. Don’t breathe.” She says it. And she means it–with all the love in her heart.
And I lock my doors. Because she reminded me. But I do breathe. I also rest. But not because my doors are locked. But because I am at peace with God.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
Psalm 4:8
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
But, still, my mom’s words make me smile. They’re a benediction–a blessing. I love the idea of giving a parting blessing. It makes leaving a beautiful and trust-filled thing.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
Numbers 6:22-27 (ESV)
Do you see the Lord’s presence in this? He doesn’t tell the priests to bless the people with, “May everything go well. May you have no conflict or chaos.” God tells His spokesmen to remind His people of His blessing, His watch care, His favor, His grace, and His peace.
Then He says, “Do this, and you put my name on them.”
The label maker.
God essentially says, “This blessing labels them as mine.”
We label my mom’s clothes because her facility does her laundry. Maybe you’ve done something similar when you’ve sent a child to camp. You put your name on your lunch when you entrust it to the staff refrigerator. You put your name on your luggage when you check it in for a flight or a ride on a train or bus.
Why? Because when we value something, and it’s about to be mixed in with a bunch of other somethings that may look just like it, we label it. Because we don’t want to lose it.
We do the same thing when we speak a blessing over a loved one as they go out into the world. We deliberately put God’s name on someone we care about. Even if they don’t believe, the words are heard. It’s a way to say, “I love you. Don’t get lost, okay?”
It’s a peaceful benediction. And a beautiful label.
So again, what is Peace?
At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep, For you, God, have put my life back together” (Ps 4:8, THE MSG).
Psalm 4:8, The Message
That paraphrase of Psalm 4:8 captures the way I define peace. I have peace among the pieces because I worship a God who puts my life back together. God’s peace is wholeness. God’s peace is reconciliation. With Him. With myself. With others. God’s peace is a put- back-togetherness that happens only through Jesus.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 5:5
The turmoil may remain. But we are at peace. Because we are whole. We know whose we are, and who we are in Him.
The darkness may surround us. But we are at peace. Because we know sin and death have no dominion over us.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13 (ESV)
We have peace because we are redeemed–through Jesus, we’ve received back the relationship with God that sin stole from us. We have peace because we are forgiven for that sin. Do you know how big of a deal that is? I could sleep last night and get out of bed this morning to face my today because God has redeemed my yesterday.
Let’s Come Alongside
Are you a blessing giver? This week, will you speak a blessing over someone and give them God’s grace and peace? What better way is there to celebrate the redemption, forgiveness, and peace of Christmas than by sharing it with someone? If you do, will you share your blessing in the comments? Then we’ll all be blessed, right?
Traveling in Grace,
Christi
CRG:::
For the past few years, I have used blesseveryhome dot com to pray for my neighbors. It’s called being a lighthouse of prayer. Check it out. You could be a rolling blessing, girlfriend. I liked it because of the lighthouse imagery. I chose the 30 homes nearest mine and pray for them by name every Tuesday. A prayer is a blessing and a good thing to do. But I want to be more like your mom and speak a blessing as people walk away…just before people separate…while we are still standing there together. That leaves a sweet savor for both parties to treasure. If that should turn out to be the last time we are together on earth, that’s surely what will remembered. I also hate saying goodbye. As Meryl Streep said in Out of Africa, “I’m much bet-tah at hello.” A blessing makes a goodbye so much more palatable. Comedians try to leave people laughing. Jesus people need to leave people with a blessing. +B+B+
I did something like this in New Orleans — I’ll have to see if it’s doable on the move. Leave ’em blessed. I like that.
Sometimes we let current circumstances overwhelm the memories of God’s hand in our lives. We can know deep inside that He’s there and that the knowledge could bring us peace, but life can cloud that out. Today I share this article in hopes that it will bring to mind a God who is close enough and does care enough to give peace.
So much in that blessing from Numbers. Praying that God’s love and peace would shine through those clouds.