Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” [Luke 2:13-14 NLT)]
While visiting a church recently, the pastor announced a new security precaution: ten minutes after the service started, the outside doors would be locked from the inside and no one could enter the building. Yesterday afternoon, another church offered a four hour class for their congregation. Led by a private security company, topics included ways to identify threats, how to develop layers of security, and techniques for conflict resolution. While talking with my daughter about a recent school shooting in her area, I learned that my grand’s school has regular “lock-down” drills in preparation for such an attack. Is no place safe from violence?
In 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created what is known at the Doomsday Clock. Designed to show the world how close it is to destroying itself with technology, the clock was originally set to 7 minutes before midnight with midnight being catastrophe—the end of the world as we know it. After the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb in 1949, it was reset to three minutes before the hour and, by 1953, it was down to two minutes. I was in first grade at the time; rather than “lock-down” drills, we had air-aid drills and practiced ducking under our desks in case a bomb was dropped. In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, the clock’s hands were set back to seventeen minutes before midnight. Since 2007, disruptions from climate change have figured into the calculations. This past year, the clock was set to only two and half minutes until midnight. Locking down a church or school, ducking under a desk, or building a bomb shelter won’t protect any of us if the minute hand reaches the twelve.
The world is in turmoil; we’re no closer to peace now than two thousand years ago. We live in a divided and troubled world and it grows more brutal daily. It’s no longer just atomic bombs that threaten us—cyber warfare, biologic weaponry, thoughtless rhetoric, fake news and catastrophic weather events all contribute to the danger. Where is this peace on earth we sang about these last several weeks?
Scripture tells us wars and violence will continue (and even get worse) until Jesus returns and establishes true lasting peace. Indeed, the end times appear to be on the horizon but what are we to do until then? I suppose we’ll continue having lock downs, going through metal detectors, getting luggage x-rayed and handbags searched, securing church doors, and meeting with security companies but that’s merely trying to stay safe. It’s not enough.
When we accepted Jesus, His Holy Spirit brought a fruit basket as a house-warming gift. In it we find peace along with several other qualities that will help us be peaceful: love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, calmness and self-control. We all got the same beautiful basket and, as Christians, we’re all capable of letting His peace rule our hearts, actions and words. While our behavior may not move the hands of that clock backward, we might be able to make our little corner of the world a kinder, gentler, and better place.
Over two thousand years ago, the angels sang, “Peace on earth.” Let our lives continue that song as we move into this new year. Heavenly Father, let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.” [James 4:13-15 (MSG)]
While some might groan, others may cheer on this the first day of winter. I remember being asked my favorite season and, since we were skiing in the mountains at the time, I said it was winter. I loved it for the powder days on the slopes, pines laden with snow cookies, and aspens glistening with hoarfrost. Winter meant snuggling by the fire with a hot drink while watching the snow fall and the wind blow the trees. Then, I remembered that winter brings shoveling, cleaning off the car, cold toes, drippy noses, falling on the ice, and heating bills so I quickly changed my answer.
People disappoint. Consider Moses’ disappointment when, fresh off Mt. Sinai after a 40 day meeting with God, he returned to find the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. Can you imagine David’s disappointment when Saul, the man he’d comforted with his songs, plotted his death? Picture Nathan’s disappointment in David when he confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba. Think of Joseph’s disappointment in the brothers he thought loved him as they callously sold him into slavery. Consider Jesus’ disappointment in the denying Peter, the betraying Judas, and His sleeping disciples. For that matter, consider the disappointment of the disciples as they saw their hope for the end of Rome’s tyranny die a criminal’s death on the cross.
I woke to yet another cold dreary winter day. Troubled by a variety of concerns and hoping to improve my glum mood, I turned to Psalms. Unfortunately, I made a bad choice in Psalm 88. Written by Heman the Ezrahite, I saw that originally it was to be sung to the tune “The Suffering of Affliction” (which should have been my clue to read no further).
After scrutinizing the website for the umpteenth time in a futile search for the perfect gift for my daughter-in-law, I closed the iPad and announced, “What a waste of time! This is why God created checks and gift cards!” I remembered last Friday when both Linda Ellis’s poem “The Dash” was read and the recently deceased David Cassidy was mentioned. The former Partridge Family heartthrob’s last words were: “So much wasted time.” Indeed, too much time is wasted in unproductive activities or agonizing over what, in actuality, are trivial matters. Searching the same website, over and over, and expecting to find something different was certainly one of those.
Devotions of the Heart 