How to Find True Peace This Christmas Season

It’s a hot word, but sometimes a lacking reality—peace. This week finds us well into Advent, but perhaps also deep into tensions like busy and slow, expectations and anticipation, generosity and consumerism. These tensions can quickly erode the peace we hold in our hearts and within our homes.

The calendar fills quickly, but the extra of even good things can deplete us.

We juggle expectations of our kids, our extended family, our own, and can forget that the anticipation of Christ come trumps all.

We temper our desire to buy it all with giving to those who have less, but still the message that we lack unless we have assaults us at every turn.

As we count down days to the birth of the Prince of Peace, we too often find our peace is seeping through the cracks.

If the joy of Christmas just can’t lift your spirit this year, if your smile is your effort to convince yourself that you’re happy, if you’re feeling empty in a month that normally fills you full, I want you to hear this today:

Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t settle for less. There is One who gives abundant peace, and His name is Jesus.

He can make a heart light no matter what swirls all around. He ushers in peace with His very presence because He is peace. He is not bound by the things we think we ought to do or feel or be. He fills empty things, restores broken things, creates fullness out of nothing.

And He is both here and coming.

The both/and tension present in Advent

Jesus came, and He is coming. He is already here with us while we count days, savor the gift of His birth so long ago. We have Him, yet we cultivate our desire for more of Him as we steep in joyful awe.

I read in 1 Timothy this morning that those who “[teach] others that holy awe of God is not important . . . prove they know nothing at all” (6:3 TPT). Instead, “we are to live our lives with pure hearts in the constant awe and wonder of our Lord God” (Colossians 4:22b TPT).

This is crux of Advent: awe. Reverent anticipation is rich soil for awe to flourish.

It’s as if creation holds its breath, waiting for the One who is holy. Nature slows as we settle into December, inviting us to seek the One glorious and good and true.

Anticipation is pregnant waiting. We hold hope and look toward the day the heavens erupted in praise of the One who broke through heaven to be born as a babe.

He is coming. We feel it in the slow-falling flakes and the breath that lingers opaque.

And He is here, now. We feel it in the peace that surrounds, the joy that abounds, the wisdom generously given. He is here, and His presence is thick—tangible, as is described in 2 Thess. 3:16:

Now, may the Lord himself, the Lord of peace, pour into you his peace in every circumstance and in every possible way. The Lord’s tangible presence be with you all.

TPT

While we wait for Him to come, He is already here. The One who pours His peace into us is present.

Guided by peace

Peace is more than all the feels. More than warm and cozy. More than surface calm.

Peace is a Person, the Prince of Peace.

And peace is a faithful guide.

I find myself returning again and over again to this nugget in Colossians 4:15:

Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the Anointed One, who called you to peace as part of his one body. And always be thankful.

TPT

Peace. Wisdom. Unity. Gratitude.

There is so much here, all entwined.

Peace within us. Peace to lead us. Peace to bring us together and toward Him. And then a reminder I see punctuated throughout scripture: give thanks.

As we talked about last week, gratitude prepares the heart for the Advent because it makes space for us to fill with wonder. Awe. Anticipation.

It all ties together, and He is at the center.

Gratitude leads us to God, and near Him we know peace.

So my prayer this month is that awe would still our words so we can better hear His, slow our steps so we can fall in step with the One who leads, and fill us with peace as we welcome Him to be at the center of our lives.

So when you feel caught in the middle of tensions that pull you in so many different directions, remember this:

Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. Put into practice the example of all that you have heard from me or seen in my life and the God of peace will be with you in all things.

Philippians 4:6-9 TPT

May the God of peace be with you in all things.

A prayer for the one seeking peace

On the days that are dark, or heavy, or busy—You are here with us. You bring peace that transcends all because You are Peace personified. May we rest our gaze on You, let praise of You be ever present on our lips. Help us to remember that you are with us in all things. In Your holy and precious name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

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