Peace This Christmas pt1

How to Find Real Peace This Christmas (Part 1)
By Rick Warren

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV).

You’ll hear the word “peace” used all the time during the Christmas season. It’s a powerful word, in part because it’s something all of us want. We long for peace — peace with God, peace within, and peace with others.

And here’s the good news of Christmas: Jesus came to Earth to give us all three. How do we get this kind of peace?

It starts with Jesus.

How do you find peace like this? The Biblegives us three steps. We’ll look at these three steps over the next few days.

First, you need a moment of clarity.

It’s a life-changing experience that changes you forever. You’re never the same afterward. All of a sudden, you see God as he really is, not as you were brought up to believe he was. You also see yourself as you really are, not as you think you are. You see other people as they really are instead of how you’ve been told they were. You see your problems clearly. You see your past, present, and future clearly.

Christmas is a great time to get that moment of clarity.

Every person in the first Christmas story had such a moment of clarity.

●      Joseph had a dream, and suddenly everything made sense.

●      The wise men had a moment of clarity while staring at the stars.

●      Mary had a moment of clarity when she understood God’s Word spoken to her.

●      The shepherds had a moment of clarity when they experienced a miracle and decided to visit baby Jesus.

●      Elizabeth had a moment of clarity through her friend, Mary.

Paul writes about a moment of clarity inEphesians 1:18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (NIV).

God knows everything about you; you know almost nothing about God. You need a moment of clarity to see what he sees.

Until that happens, you’re not going to have peace in your life. It just isn’t going to happen.

The Christmas story shows us that God is actively working to give you a moment of clarity. Watch for God this Christmas!