For Love and Peace

We hear talk of God’s love all the time, but have you ever considered that if God was not a personal, loving God, then there would never have been a Christmas story? There would never have been a reason for Jesus to be born, for Him to walk this earth in ministry, and certainly not for Him to die.

When we encounter treacherous seasons of life, the enemy tries to tell us that God must not be as good as we thought He was. He must not be as loving as we’d hoped because the Holocaust still happened, the Titanic still sank, war after war has been fought, and loneliness has become the worst disease of all. Sometimes, we might wonder, “Where is God’s love in this? Why would He let these things happen?”

Back in the 17th and 18th century, there was a belief system called Deism that broke out. Deists believed that there was such a thing as a supreme being—a creator or God—but one that did not intervene or have a personal relationship with humanity. Many people used the illustration of this creator picking up a clock, winding it, and leaving it to tick on forever. In essence, the creator set time and space in motion, and then they left the world to chance.
           
When we feel that God has not intervened as He should, we might start to identify with the Deists’ theory of an impersonal God. We question His love and might even fear that He’s decided to abandon us.

But all of Scripture points to God’s intentionality. Everything He’s done has been personal. All He’s ever done is introduce Himself to humanity and prove that He remains faithful through the ages.
The Christmas story is proof alone that God took every measure to reach us. He became human, leaving His throne to be a carpenter’s son and dying in our place all because we needed our sin debt to be paid.

There has never been a greater love than that.

As we go throughout this Christmas season, remember that no matter the heartbreak you have been through this year or in years past—there has never been a day where He hasn’t loved you. There’s never been a time when He’s forgotten you. He is more personal and more present that we could ever understand this side of heaven, and His peace that surpasses all understanding is never lacking.