Where’s the Peace?

We are three weeks into 2021, and the transition from mayhem has yet to begin. It’s hard not to feel a little discouraged. The COVID vaccine has been rolled out, though not fast enough to show any reduction in the rate of infection at this point, leaving the world in a perpetual state of pandemonium. Racial and political tensions remain high as a new leader takes office, and a nation once united, flounders pathetically. There really are no winners when the people are so divided, and my prayers are with any man, bold or foolish enough to grapple a people who hate so emphatically from all sides. 

We look expectantly into 2021, hoping for change to bring about relief from the pains of this past year. Politics and masks and vaccines hold our hope for a brighter tomorrow, yet history tells us that tomorrow will hold its own share of pains, even if all the worries of today are gone. 

Where is your faith? Is it in the government to right all the wrongs of the past and correct all racial injustice? Is it in the medical community to save you from death or at least give you a chance at immortality? Is it in the law to ensure every individual citizen has the right to live out a morality based upon their own personal choices regardless of the impact on the lives of others? Or is your faith in God and His son, Jesus, who many of us just celebrated only a month ago. Do we realize this Jesus does not still live in a manger? That He does not still live on a cross? That He does not still live in a tomb? And He does not live up in the sky? But that He lives supernaturally just on the other side of this world, yet present and waiting to rip through the heavens when the time is right? Do we realize this supernatural child was born to save us from ourselves and all of our foolish pursuits? Jesus was not just another martyr. He wasn’t just another man unjustly put to death. He is the savior of this world, and if you want something solid to put your faith in, He is the rock, an unshakeable fortress no matter what troubles may be on the horizon. He is the way, the truth and the life. Choose today not to live in worry and want, or trusting in things that can never promise more than a moment’s contentment, but trust in the peace of a redeemer who wants desperately to love you despite your failings and futile efforts, trust in His supernatural provision that transcends all rational comprehension. Choose to believe in the saving grace of Jesus!