Isaiah 40:3

Today’s Advent Challenge is perhaps a more difficult one. Prayerfully make an effort for peace with someone you once called “friend.” Pray for Peace in some broken situation that you know.

A man was giving me directions to his house. “We live on the main drag,” he told me. It was a very small community, and I didn’t know that there was a main drag. Then he said, “The road is full of ruts, and we drag all the way out of here.” Worn by daily life, the road through our soul can get plenty of potholes and become in need of repair.

The Scripture calls us to prepare the way of the Lord; to make the necessary repairs that are needed to be ready for King Jesus to come into our heart. Some of us have lived in places where the road was not paved and occasionally the road-scraper would come and smooth out the rough places. Advent gives us opportunity to get the ruts and potholes out of our lives so we can know that deep down peace that the Lord brings.

There are two kinds of peace: the peace we make, and the peace that God gives. Advent is about the peace we make, and Christmas is about the peace that God gives.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). We must do what we can to have peace, but the Bible also acknowledges that when we have tried it still may not work. Then is when the inner peace that God gives takes over in your heart. It is a peace that doesn’t depend on outward circumstances. It came from Heaven and first slept in a manger, and now lives in the heart of all who believe.

“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27