The Advent season is upon us and we’re reflecting on the themes of Hope, Love, Peace, and Joy this month as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. This third week’s focus is on Peace:

IN WORD It is a wonderful freedom that we just don’t think about and discuss enough. It liberates you from the stress, fear, and anxiety that so many people live with every day. It is a sweet gift of grace that is given to you right here, right now. You never could have found it on your own. You never could have earned or achieved it. You still can’t stand before God and say that you deserve it. It is a gift that is not to be ignored or misunderstood.
You have been given Christ, and in being given Christ, you have been given life. You don’t need to search for meaning and purpose. You don’t need to search for identity. You don’t need to look for something to give you the inner sense of well-being that every person wants. You don’t have to wonder if you’ll ever be loved. You don’t have to worry that your life and work will result in nothing. You don’t have to wonder if you’ll have what you need to face what will be on your plate today. You don’t have to worry about your future. You will never be left to the limited range of your own resources. You will never, ever be left alone. There is always someone who understands you and offers you the help that you need. You don’t have to worry about whether your wrongs will be forgiven and your weaknesses greeted with patience and grace. You don’t have to worry, because you have a Savior who has invaded your life with hHis grace and has made you the place where hHe dwells.
So you have been freed from the endless quest for life that consumes so many people. So many look for life where it cannot be found. They hope their marriages will give them the happiness they have not yet found. They look to their jobs to give them identity. They look to people and possessions to give them peace. They don’t know it, but they are asking the situations, locations, and relationships of everyday life to be their saviors. Sadly, they’re drinking from wells that are dry and eating bread that will never satisfy. The situations, locations, and relationships of daily life are wonderful to enjoy, but we must understand that they will never, ever satisfy our hearts. For that, we have been given a true Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
IN DEED – So instead of wasting time on that endless quest for life, you have been invited to enter into God’s rest for the rest of your life. Rest in your identity as hHis child. Rest in hHis eternal love. Rest in hHis powerful grace. Rest in hHis constant presence and faithful provision. Rest in hHis patience and forgiveness. Rest. “– If Christ is your life, you are free from the desperate quest to find life in situations, locations, and relationships.” – Paul David Tripp (in “New Morning Mercies” by Paul David Tripp)

Are you in need of peace? Take time to read 1 Peter this week. Written to a Christian community that faced increasing social opposition, the apostle Peter reminded them -– and us -– that our peace rests in Christ, not in worldly circumstances. Let the final encouragements of chapter 5 be your source of comfort and give you rest-full peace in the Lord. Have a blessed week! – from Singapore, Pastor Sam