Living a new reality...

Living a new reality...

By Bobby Schuller, Crystal Cathedral Pastor

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock."

-Isaiah 26:3-4

If you have the love of God in your heart, the affections and the attentions of other people just don't matter as much, nor does the distress, the lack of meaning, or the worry. If God is protecting you, if God is on your side, if you're living in God's reality, those things still affect you but they lose their edge. If you truly know the love of God, you're given strength to live in an imperfect world, a world that may hate you for no good reason, a world that gossips about you, a family that dislikes you, friends or co-workers that are always on your heels. You can abide with all these circumstances because there is this love that gives you strength.

You can be like Jesus. You can sit on a boat and take a nap in a storm if you really have that peace. You don't have to worry about tomorrow. You live in a new reality.

And that reality was with Mary and Joseph in that stable. It was with those shepherds. You become like the Magi: I will search and search and search for years. I will cross thousands of miles. I will take everything I have, and I will give it up if I can just see Jesus. If I can just kneel before him, I will gladly give away all of these things that the earth says are valuable, and I will not rest until I'm able to lay them before His throne.

Peace is available today at Christmas, for Jesus came to be our Prince of Peace.

Prayer: Dear Lord, even when there is no peace in the people surrounding me, no peace being reported in the news, no peace in the workplace, I will find my peace in you. Amen.