Thursday, December 12, 2024  //  Day 12

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. —2 Thessalonians 3:16

Paul’s prayer for us is not a hopeful thought. It’s a bold statement of what is ours in Christ – peace that we can experience regardless of our circumstances.

Paul prays that God will give us peace “at all times and in every way.” This means we can experience peace in all situations – in uncertainty about the future, in conflicts at work, when our health fails, when relationships are fractured, and in moments of personal failure. We can experience peace in every aspect of life. How?

Think of a child lost in a city. As soon as they realize they’re separated from their parents, their sense of peace unravels. Our hearts work the same way. When we are separated from God, everything in our lives begin to unravel – our sense of self, our relationships with other people, even our relationship to the physical world. As Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Paul reminds us that peace comes from God’s presence because, like lost children restored to their parents, God’s presence is ultimate. It is the one thing we cannot live without and the one thing that will sustain us when 10,000 things are lost. When the Lord of peace is near, He reorders our lives, calms our fears, restores our sense of identity, and heals our connections with others. We need the nearness of God, but how do we get it?

Here’s the catch: we aren’t innocent children who accidentally got lost. We have run from God, and we deserve to be cut off from Him. Despite our running, God draws near. In Ephesians 3:14, Paul says that Jesus Himself is our peace because He has reconciled us to God through the cross. How did He do this? On the cross, Jesus was separated from the Father so that we would not be. Like lost children, Jesus restores us to our Father who is the source of all peace. Does this mean all of life is easy? Definitely not. But it does mean that we can experience true peace because the ultimate things in life have been resolved in Jesus.

John Patrick