Christmas Devotion
The Promise of the Lord's Peace — In a Piece of Candy
By Brian Simmons
Do you know the story of the candy cane?
Well, there’s this old legend about a nice old candy maker in Indiana. He loved to make candy, especially for little boys and girls.
One Christmas he decided to make a special kind of candy that would tell a special story, the story of Jesus.
The nice old candy maker from Indiana took a stick of pure white, hard candy. The color white reminds us that he never sinned.
If you ever ate a candy cane you know how hard it is, right? Like a rock. Mr. Candy Maker made it hard – to remind us that Jesus is our shelter—like a rocky cave.
And what letter does it look like? Yes a J! Which not only represents the name Jesus, but also the staff of the “Good Shepherd.” A shepherd picks up sheep with the rounded end then fights off wild animals with the other. Jesus helps us and keeps us safe.
Finally the candy maker put three reds stripes around it to remind us of the pain Jesus went through on the cross for our sins, all so that we can be with God forever and have a life of peace.
So that’s the story of the candy cane. It tells us of Jesus and his great love for each of us. It also tells us of the peace we can have in life because of what he did.
Peace. What an interesting word. Peace is a hard thing to come by—peace for life, relationships, our health, our bank accounts, our jobs, our memories, our souls.
If you look in a thesaurus you’ll see the opposite words for peace are agitation and distress. A pretty good way to talk about life most of the time. And yet, the psalmist reminds us of a promised peace, a message every one of God’s godly lovers longs to hear.
Psalm 85 begins by remembering the peace Yahweh brought his people in the past: “[He] restored Israel from captivity,” and he forgave their “many sins and covered every one of them in [his] love.” (Ps. 85:1-2, TPT)
Next he listens for what Yahweh has to say. And what he has to say is this: the promise of peace. God’s power and presence is shining, his glory hovers over his people. Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace are kissing. Faithfulness is blooming, righteousness is shining. The Lord will give good things because “deliverance and peace are his forerunners preparing a path for his steps.” (Ps. 85:13)
In other words: peace and restoration are coming!
From the very beginning of our human story God promised to do something about all of the agitation and distress in our world. He promised to restore the peace.
And he did. He sent the Prince of Peace to come and do what we can’t do for ourselves. Jesus brings true, lasting peace. Jesus’s story announces in big, bright, bold colors the kind of peace that all of us are desperately searching for—which is offered to all people.
As the angel of the Lord said that first Christmas Eve:
“Glory to God in the highest realms of heaven! For there is peace and a good hope given to the sons of men.” (Luke 2:14)
May we know the promises of that peace deep down this Christmas season.
Excerpted from Brian Simmons and THE PASSION TRANSLATION.
Copyright © 2014 by Brian Simmons. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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 Brian Simmons and his wife Candice have been described as true pioneers in ministry. Their teaching has opened doors in many nations to the Gospel. For the last forty years, Brian has been a linguist, pastor, missionary, and speaker and now brings all those gifts together to lead the translation work for The Passion Translation.
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