PASTOR’S CORNER, Elizabeth Morgan, First Church of the Nazarene, Liberal
Are you feeling stressed, busy, or like your world is in chaos? You are not alone! There are so many things going on at the same time. End of year quotas, Christmas shopping, students getting out for a few weeks, and the list goes on. So the question this week is, “How can we find “Peace” when the world around us is chaotic?”
John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV)
Peace is not a delusional human concept. Jesus told us there would be “wars and rumors of wars.” Rather, peace is divine in origin because it is so personal with the divine Creator. Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). He is personable and relational as Immanuel or “God with us”! He overcomes the trouble, trials, tragedy, and so on that we experience.
More than 2,000 years ago a baby was born in a manger in Bethlehem, and his name was Jesus. Can you imagine the chaos leading up to his birth? Mary, who was young and not married to Joseph, was pregnant with a child. She was betrothed, or engaged, to Joseph, and she was always faithful to him. So, how could this be?
The angel Gabriel explained to Mary in Luke 1:28-30. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” Mary was a virgin, so she never had any sexual encounters. However, she faced chaos in human accusations and could have been stoned by the Mosaic law. Even her fiancé questioned her. (Matthew 1:18-24) Society was suspicious when she wore maternity clothes.
God had a purpose and a plan which He prophesied in Isaiah 7:14. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” The angel Gabriel confirmed the prophecy in Luke 1:30-37 when he said, “‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. ‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she was said to be barren in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” (NIV)
If you are feeling the chaos and are needing peace, remember that peace can come when we keep our minds on God and not on the chaotic things of this world. Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind stays on thee because he trusts in Thee.”
