Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men.—Luke 2:14
Peace is something mankind longs for. Even those who are committing acts of terror or hoping for a future of peace when their cause wins, which is an illusion, for the fruit of violence is more violence. God has good will towards ‘men’; it is in us that good will needs to be cultivated. We have good will towards those we love. Our families and those who are like us in some way as well as those who do not threatened us and cause fear to rise in our hearts. It is normal, natural and at times ‘good’ that we are like this. However “God with us”, Christ Jesus calls us to move beyond that. This can only happen when we open up or hearts to God’s love and compassion. Once the seed is planted it will grow and we find our hearts changing causing us to find that we love more people and fear less. Serving God and loving others is not about changing the world, that is not up to us, but the paradox is that the world changes as more people allow their hearts to be transformed, healing relationships and allowing us to see the ‘Image-Of-God’ in all.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.—John 1:1
The ‘Word’ is owned by no one. Nor can the mystery of this reality ever be fully comprehended. Perhaps that is part of our eternal journey, this diving into an endless ocean of love, whose essences is known, but there is always more.
‘Peace to men of good will” Who are they? All who seek peace and understanding are such people. We as Christians need to learn to see them, know them and to love them deeply. The human heart that is good produces good fruit. A good heart is the work of grace freely given to all who have an open heart. Those who hate us, need not be hated back. In doing so, we give them power over us. Like patience, a loving heart is cultivated when we are loving towards others when we feel otherwise. We dig deeper and allow the living waters of grace to transform our hearts. It happens, this change, all we need do is to desire it, to knock and ask.
