Happy Friday, everyone!

I was recently remembering a time when I was decorating for Christmas. My wife had bought this marquee with the letters of PEACE—P, E, A, C, E—all lit up in lights, and there was a beautiful picture on the box showing it glowing in this dark night. And I thought, “I’ve got the perfect place for it on my house.”

We had this rectangular window above our very, very tall Texas door, and I thought, “It’s going to look great right there.” So, I got out my extension ladder, I got PEACE out of the box, and I put that extension ladder up. I had to get suction cups, and I had to make sure that I got fishing wire to loop around each hook on the letter. I made sure those were all the right dimensions and then found out what it meant to be positioned at center (because I knew my wife would call me on that). Then I climbed up the ladder, carried it up, and put P on. I got the suction cup and stuck it to the window.

Then I reached over and got E stuck to the window. Then I had to climb back down the ladder, move the whole thing over, climb back up, put the A in place, and then the C. And unfortunately, I still had to go one more. So, I climbed back down, moved the ladder, climbed back up, and stuck the last E to the window.

And you know what happened? E went popping off. So back down the ladder. I moved the ladder again, put it back over by the P, and climbed up. I got P stuck to that window—and that’s when boom, E on the other side popped off! Once again, back down the ladder, back over to the other side, back over to the E.

Now I figured it out. I figured out what was going on: I was having a real problem with the window because it was dirty. I needed to wash that window and clean it and prepare it for the suction cups.

In a similar way, John the Baptist, during this time of Advent, calls us to prepare the way for the coming King. Advent is all about preparation. And one of the callings of that preparation is for us to repent and to be baptized, that washing and cleansing of our hearts that only Jesus can do.

I finally got PEACE stuck to that window after I cleaned the window and cleaned out those suction cups. I stepped back and really admired that PEACE. I asked my wife to come out and see it with me. I told her, “I really worked hard for this PEACE.”

Well, the next morning when we woke up… every single one of those letters was down at my doorstep. It still didn’t hold. And you know, that’s sometimes how it feels when it comes to peace in this world.

We have to really work at it. We have to be intentional about peace, and we work really hard to get that peace fixed. But in this world, it seems like it always falls down.

Think about your relationships. You start off with the best intentions, but an angry word or a misdeed causes anger and disrupts that peace in the relationship.

How many times do you have a financial plan that brings you peace, and you know where you’re going to end up at the end of the month, until all of a sudden, that unexpected car repair bill comes through and throws everything into chaos?

And then, of course, our mental health. We start off every day saying, “I’m going to get after it. We’re going to do this. It’s going to be a great day.” And then—I don’t know about you—but it sure feels like the world works really hard to knock peace down in my life, one letter at a time, to the point where I get home at the end of the night thinking, “Wow, I am really missing some peace.”

That’s why Jesus came.

That’s why we call Him the Prince of Peace. Because He doesn’t have circumstances control peace; He controls peace over the circumstances. That’s who He is. He’s the Prince of Peace. And He brings that peace to us this Christmas in our hearts.

Even when the circumstances are still chaotic, Jesus comes and meets us in our hearts and brings us that peace.

And that’s why this verse is the verse I preached on last Sunday. It’s also the verse I’ve signed on so many of our letters throughout this entire year. It’s been a theme verse for us this year, and it reads this way:

Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

I pray that you receive the peace that is Christ—that you receive Him. If you’re looking for peace to be confirmed in all of your circumstances, that’s probably not the peace that’s going to be found in this world. But you will find it in the Person. That peace is a Person. His name is Jesus, and He’ll be with you through it all.

He promises to never leave you, to never forsake you. And even when the circumstances continue to swirl and be chaotic, Jesus will sustain, hold you, and care for you through every circumstance.

Have a great weekend, and let’s pray together as we go into this weekend.

Prayer
God of Hope, we ask that You would fill us tonight with Your joy and Your peace in believing. Anchor us not in our own efforts or in circumstances, but in the power of Your Holy Spirit. When our strength begins to slip and hope begins to fade—hold us. When peace feels like it’s falling down a letter at a time—bring that peace to us. Be that peace for us. And as we lead, and as we carry out the tasks You lead us to this weekend, let us abound in hope—for ourselves, for our families, and for our communities. And let us extend and be that presence of PEACE in the lives of others. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

ITTT