Peace On Earth, Good Will to Men
Joy, Peace, and Good Will are common greetings of the Christmas season. Indeed, they are probably at the heart of what most people seek during Christmas. And, I’d venture to say that we usually experience them during Christmas more than any other time of year.
The expectation of joy, peace, and good will at Christmas and the common use of the terms probably came from Scripture, as angels declared the good news of Jesus’ birth. In Luke 2:10, the shepherds were told, “I bring you tidings of great joy.” Then multitude of angels said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14, KJV).
In addition, Tiny Tim, in The Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, convinced us that its part of Christmas when he said, “God bless us everyone!”
Joy, peace, and good will have a good ring and a good feel to them. In fact, many Christmas cards have JOY and PEACE featured as the theme of the card. They have become a goal in life and the expected spirit of Christmas.
However, I think we’ve missed something over the years. All of the more recent versions of the Bible translate that last phrase a little differently.
Instead of “and on earth peace, good will toward men,” which is used in the King James Version, they translate the phrase, (italics added)
- “and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (ESV),
- “also on earth—peace among people pleasing him well!” (MIT),
- “and on earth, peace among men in whom He is pleased.” (NAS)
I get the feeling from this verse that maybe we can’t all expect to find peace—at least not without first finding peace with God.
The Lord is the source of peace. This verse implies that we can’t expect Him to bless us with peace unless He is pleased with us—maybe even “pleasing him well”—with an exclamation mark!
However, considering this in the context of Scripture, I don’t believe it’s a matter of doing everything perfectly to please the Lord. Rather, it’s a matter of having our hearts respond to His love so that our desire is to please Him, leading to obedience.
When joy and peace have been lacking in close relationships—of the times I remember—it has always come down to an area where I was out of order with God. Sometimes, I have a blind spot and don’t see it quickly, but I always find some hidden attitude (i.e. sin) that is destroying the joy, peace, and good will of the relationship.
I’ve decided that when we send cards with blessings of Joy or Peace, we probably ought to also pray for the recipient that they would have a relationship with the Lord that would be pleasing to Him.
It also can be a reminder to pray for our nation, that we would turn back to God, so that we can experience the peace that we long for as a nation.
How can we encourage true joy and peace for those we love? What can we do to increase it in the world?
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