Begin with two minutes of stillness and silence before God.
For many, I think the Christmas season is a time to think about family. I hope that you came from a family full of peace and unity, and that all your Christmases were magical. I’m going to be honest and say that the holiday season didn’t always seem synonymous with “unity” for me. We won’t get into it fully, but my family is… difficult. I always felt like someone (me, usually) needed to be the peacekeeper, and you never knew what the mood would be. The stress of Christmas seemed to bring out the worst in some people rather than the best.
Today’s reading from the book of Ephesians has the common theme of unity. Again, it was almost difficult to wrap my mind around the idea that unity is a theme of Christmas. Funny how the way we were raised colors so much of how we view God, right? But before Jesus, there had been a separation of Gentiles and Jews. This separation of people groups led to a lack of – you guessed it – peace. Verse 14 starts by telling us that not only did Jesus bring peace, but He IS peace.
This entire passage is a beautiful picture of the gospel. Paul tells us that whether you are Jew or Gentile, Jesus’ death on the cross gave us all access to peace with God. Without His payment for our sins, we could not have peace, and we would for sure never experience unity. I’m so grateful that I am no longer considered a stranger or foreigner to God because Jesus came to earth and later died for my sins. Now I am considered a citizen of Heaven. Instead of entering into a stressful season worried about being a peacemaker myself, I can rest assured in the knowledge that Jesus is my peace.
Take two minutes to reflect in silence.