Peace on Earth?

Usually I try to keep my blog light-hearted and fun. And sometimes it's downright silly. But this time of year is mostly full of hustle and bustle of running hither and yon looking for just the right such-and-such for the perfect so-and-so. It is hard to sit down, breathe a sigh of relief, and remember what makes this time of year so special.

It isn't the tree, although we have one.

It isn't the presents, although we give and receive them.

It isn't the songs, the food, the cookies, or the candies, although we enjoy all of those.

Two years ago, we departed from the normal family Christmas doings and converged upon Florida with family and went to Disney World. On Christmas night, Shawn and I were able to go to Epcot while the grandparents stayed back at the resort with the kids. In the center of the World Showcase, they did a show every night where this giant globe lights up and portrays other countries, and people doing humanitarian deeds, and how nice, that in the face of such times, people were still trying to find peace on Earth. It was a beautiful spectacle, and everyone around me enjoyed it. But it made me so very sad that I cried for quite a while after it ended. What made me sad was that it was urging everyone to search for peace, but made no offer of how to find it. I wanted to jump up and shout to the people all around me that I knew where it could be found, or rather, in Whom it could be found.

People, the very reason why I celebrate Christmas is because God sent Peace to the Earth when He sent His Son.
Will there ever be peace on Earth among men? No. But there is peace on Earth between men and God. Before that, there was no direct relationship with our creator. Jesus is the bridge that crosses the gap between sinful man and a Holy God.

You see, when God created the Earth, and everything in it, He knew that we would sin and reject Him. He knew He would need to sacrifice His own Son to restore fellowship between Himself and His creation. That was His plan. Here's how it works.

The Bible says the wages of that sin is death. Not the physical kind, although we do have that. He was speaking of the eternal kind. The kind of death that separates us from God and spending an eternity with Him. But thankfully, we don't have to pay the death penalty for our own sin. God sent His own Son to pay that price. Our souls were redeemed by the blood of Jesus. But we are not automatically children of God. That happens when we realize that we are sinners, and believe that Jesus' sacrifice of His own life to redeem us to God is all it takes to save us from our sin and an eternity apart from God.
So, this Christmas, if you believe that you are a sinner, and that God gave His own Son to pay for your sins, receive the gift of eternal life that He offers you freely, and thank Him.
It'll be the Merriest Christmas ever.