A Prince of Peace

 

Forgive me, but I love the tv programme ‘I’m a Celebrity get me out of here’.  For those who do not know the show it follows a bunch of b/c/d list celebrities go into the Australian jungle for 3 weeks surviving on back to basic rations.  They then do ‘bushtucker’ challenges to earn food for the camp.  These are awful ordeals that test the celebrities fears like dealing with extreme heights, dealing with horrible bugs, dangerous snakes and all other sorts of awful things.  The one trial that looks like fun is the cyclone event.  A steep hill is layered with plastic and the celebrities have to climb the hill with a star and reach a destination point.  Easy enough!  Except there is all sort of things trying to blow them off course like water canons, wind generators, plastic balls and inflatables that are all fired with the intention of knocking the celebrities over and forcing them away from their destination. Instead they end up back at the bottom of the hill where they begin the long climb once again. 

The cyclone trial reminds me a bit about life.  We all have targets to reach, destinations in mind, a way of being that is full of peace, joy and love in our mind, but there always seems to be something that blows us off course.  You may have said with me things like, ‘when the children are sleeping through the night I can reach my destination of joy and peace but in the meantime I will just struggle on’.  Or you may have said ‘when the children are at school… when this big project at work is finished… when I retire… when I am feeling better… I will reach my destination of joy and peace but in the mean time I will just struggle on’.  We all have our goals but constantly we are blown off course from our destination.  Life does not happen in the miraculous point in the future where everything has been done and all is well, life happens right now in the meantime.  And we have a God that wants to bring joy and peace into the meantime.  Joan Osbourne asks, ‘if God had a name what would it be’?  Well he does and according to Isaiah 9 it is the ‘Prince of Peace’.

The Bible records the story of how Jesus having taught on the beach declared to his disciples, ‘let’s go to the other side of the sea of Galilee’.  Easy enough as half of them were fisherman.  Off they go.  Coast surrounds them, mountains in the distant, beauty all around.  But suddenly, out of no where, comes a terrible storm.  Now they can not see the destination, you can not see the beauty, the wonderful scenery, the other boats…  All that can be seen now is water, water, and more water, as waves crash into the boat one by one.  This is the end.  Death is around the corner.  They are nearly overcome.  They are about to sink and die on the sea of Galilee.  Then they remember Jesus is on the boat.  The prince of peace is on the boat.  They go to find him.  He is asleep in the back with his head on a cushion.  The boat is being thrown around, water is pouring in, the end is near… and Jesus is asleep.  They wake him.  They shout at him.  ‘Do you not care that we are about to die?’  Jesus gets up.  He staggers I presume against the force of the weather.  He faces the storm and speaks, ‘peace be still’!  And straight away, all of a sudden, transformation, a deep calm comes over the sea.  The disciples ask ‘who is this man’?  It is the prince of peace.  They reach their destination.

As Christians we are all on a journey.  A journey to eternity.  There in heaven we will be perfect, clothed in righteousness, without sin as we dwell with our God forever.  Our role this side of heaven is to be heading in that direction.  Becoming more holy, displaying more and more in our lives the fruit of the Spirit, becoming better followers of Jesus and becoming better imitators of our God.  There in heaven we will know perfect peace, perfect joy and fullness of life, but the journey there can be a difficult and a very different experience.  We keep getting blown of course, things keep getting in the way.  We are nearly overcome.  This Christmas we remember that we have a prince of peace who if we allow to can enter our mean time and say to the storms of our life ‘peace be still’.  We have a prince of peace who can bring a deep calm and help us back on our journey as disciples of Jesus.  So we can ask, what things are we having to face at the moment?  What is stripping us of our joy?  What things are keeping us away from our journey to Christlikeness?  Because the prince of peace wants to come and say to the storms of our hearts, ‘peace be still’!  And the beginnings of that ultimate joy and peace we all shall share in eternity can be ours today.  So why not ask the prince of peace to come into your heart afresh this Christmas and enjoy the radical purpose filled journey to eternity?  A journey with many storms… but a journey of peace and joy as our prince of peace walks with us and constantly reminds us of what wonders lie ahead. Because that is the gift of Christmas.  The gift of Jesus.

If God had a name what would it be?  Well he does!  Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.  He came over 2000 years ago.  But the God that came still comes and transforms hearts and lives today.  May it be your heart this Christmas he floods with a joy and peace in believing.   Blessings… and happy Christmas!