Well, welcome back to another podcast of Struggling Well, and I hope that you had a great Christmas and an enjoyable Christmas. And here here's my belief probably that if you went to a Christmas Eve service at your church, more than likely somewhere during that service, maybe at the end of that service, you sang Silent Night cuz that's kind of the way we look at Christmas, Christmas Eve, Silent Night, all quiet, everything's good, and there's a sense of peace. and yet now we're a few days after Christmas and Maybe there is no more peace in life. historically, it's a fascinating thing. I did some research on this. In 1914, the first year of World War I, there's strong evidence that there was a Christmas Eve, Christmas Day truce between the German soldiers and the British and French soldiers in that great war. they were probably at that time on the Western Front literally a hundred yards apart from each other like a football field maybe even less than that and they were said to have sung Christmas carols spontaneously broke out with Christmas carols and one of those carols was Silent Night and the truce was short-lived but there was peace for the moment now that was the only time during that war that lasted several years that they actually had a truce like that and so whatever it was that night that day today was an unusual sense of peace that is really kind of elusive. I'm here today with our friend Tim Briggs. Suzi's unable to be with us today. but Tim's going to pop in too. And I find myself many times thinking that there are verses of scripture just like there are songs. So Silent Night is kind of deemed a Christmas song. So it Maybe it's sung once a year at Christmas Eve service or maybe one of the Sundays of Advent leaving leading up to Christmas Eve and then it's kind of packed away until the following year. Well, we do the same thing sometimes with verses in scripture. And in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah, one of the major prophets who served God in a very tumultuous time. the Assyrian Empire came down on the northern kingdom and took them into captivity. And then after Isaiah has since died but he prophesied about it. then Nebuchadnezzar comes in and takes the southern kingdom Judah. So it's this tumultuous time and but one of the sets of verses in there is in the ninth chapter and it talks about for unto us a child is born a son is given and then it goes on to describe the names of God the names for Jesus wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace and there it is again that idea of peace but those verses that for most people they're read at Christmas time in Christmas services. they're plastered on Christmas cards. but nobody thinks about them the rest of the year. It's kind of like kind of like we do with songs. We put them away till next Christmas and then we'll bring them back out again. Tim, you had any thoughts on that?
Well, first off, Jimmy, I mean, we sing Silent Night in the middle of July at Steadfast Church. I don't know what other churches do. No, I'm joking.
I'll be there in July to see.
Yeah. Yeah, I think it is interesting that peace is synonymous with the Christmas season, but we long for it every day of our lives. I mean, you could tell the whole gospel story framing it around the word peace. You know, we had peace in the garden.
H and then when sin entered the world, there's conflict and there's strife. And we've been longing for peace ever since. And the prince of peace comes and he offers peace and there will be peace eternally, you know, in the new heavens and the new earth. And so we feel that every day of our lives. We feel the unrest. We feel the conflict. We feel the strife. And we're all searching and longing and grasping toward peace. And it's always there. It's not just a Christmas offer. Right.
Right. No, it is always there. And so we live as we've talked about before, we live between the two advents. His first advent, which has taken place when he came into this world as a man, born as a man, to deliver us from our sins. And then the belief, the hope, and it's not like a wishful hope, it's the solid belief that he's coming back again, his second coming. So, we live in this time frame between the two advents. But you're right. So, if there was shalom, if there was peace in the garden in Genesis 1 and 2 that gets shattered because of man's rebellion against God, Adam and Eve's rebellion against God. that has persisted to this day and it will persist until he returns. and brings us and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth and brings us back to a state of peace and shalom. and yet and so we long for that. And it was true in 1914 in World War I. It was true in the ' 40s with World War II. And it's true today in the conflicts in the Ukraine and the Soviet Union and then Israel and the Hamas terrorists. It's this elusive thing. And yet when he came, he offered us something as individuals. He did offer us a peace that, as it says elsewhere in scripture, that passes all understanding. And yet so many times I find myself with anything but peace in my heart.
And I believe, and I'm going to ask you in a second what you believe, but I believe that there's a lot of reason for that is because I see the world on a horizontal level. I keep my eyes fixed on the world around me. And if I do that, I won't find peace anywhere. Even in my own life, not along the big picture of the world, but I won't find it in my own life until I realize that what he's offered me, he's given me the ability to achieve as I look towards him and his spirit who lives within me.
Yeah.
Yeah. You make a good point like there's that horizontal piece around which there's no guarantees, right? there's I mean, we know the end of the story, but there's no guarantees for, you know, world peace and peace with these conflicts. But, you know, the peace that Jesus offers is this peace that we can have individually. I'm curious, what would you say if someone is saying, "Yeah, Jimmy, I feel that I feel unrest. I don't feel at peace. I think I know Jesus. I know his saving work, but I'm not experiencing peace. in my life. What would you say?
Yeah. And I think that's not an uncommon thing for even those who call themselves Christ followers or believers. And I believe it's because we stop looking at the end of the story, which is not it's going to sound like it's kind of pie in the sky. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Jesus is coming back. Isn't that great? But you can't separate or you can't divorce or you can't uncouple the end of the story. story with where I find peace in my life today. I don't think it's easy cuz I don't think things like trusting Christ are easy in my daily life because of all of the realities of living in a broken fallen world. The realities that I'm a broken fallen individual even though I'm saved. the redemption that I have is a complete redemption, but it's not complete in my physical body because quite honestly I still have the capacity to sin. I still have the capacity to go my own way. So, when I choose to carve my own path, Tim, when I choose to go the way that I think is best, even when I know it's not what he would want for me to do, then I think peace becomes elusive. But even in the best of circumstances, I want to believe it is a struggle. And it is not something that comes automatically. It's not something that I take a magic pill. and boom, I have peace. it is available to me, but I have to lean into Christ and I have to realize that it's not something that I manufacture. That feels like pressure. If I've got to manufacture it, that feels like pressure.
It's something that is produced by the spirit of God who lives within me.
Yeah. Yeah. And to, you know, stay with the theme of this podcast, I was thinking about Philippians 4. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. You the good news for us is that when we don't feel peace, when we feel that unrest, we can say to God, I don't feel this, Lord,
and here's what's going on in my life.
And there's something in that interaction. There's something in that trust. where God says if you come to me
and you say hey I'm struggling I'm feeling anxious I'm I will give you my peace
yeah
I will give you my peace now sometimes that will feel elusive but there's so much hope for me in that and hopefully for you all listening that if you're struggling if you're not feeling at peace God's saying come to me
yeah and I think that's the key because it he doesn't say that I will work everything out the way you want to work out. So it's not that the peace of God means okay everything in my life is going to go the way I want. It simply means that I can trust him with life and he will produce a peace that doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make humanly speaking it doesn't make any sense. And yet he says I will give you a peace that passes all understanding when you come to me when you turn your eyes to me. So our prayer for you this week is that no matter where you're at in life and that you'll look to see to him for a peace in this broken fallen world that passes all understanding and at the same time say come Lord Jesus come. Have a good week.