He Himself Is Our Peace

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.—Ephesians 2:8-10

Guest Post: A month before Christmas, my mother gathered my brothers and me to plan our Christmas Eve. My parents always liked to have friends over, so my house was always full. Every year, my parents let us invite a family to have dinner with us on Christmas Eve. I remember one year my siblings wanted to invite a family that had a daughter who was not my friend at all. She was better than me in sports, she got better grades, she had more friends than me, she didn’t invite me to her birthday parties . . . she was definitely not my friend. Period. But I had to accept and spend a few hours on Christmas Eve with her. After all, it was Christmas and everyone was having fun. Guess what? It was one of the best Christmas Eves ever and I got a new best friend!

THINK

In Ephesians 2, Paul says that through Jesus, we can be friends of God and not enemies. Why? Sin, which we all commit, makes us enemies of God. Because of our mistakes, we cannot come into the presence of a perfect God. Because of our sin, we deserve God’s justice; we are guilty. But God loves us so much, He rejoices with forgiveness. 

God loves us and sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for those who were excluded from the Kingdom: you, me, your friend, my enemy, all of us. Even though we are separated from God because of our sins, Jesus brings us back to Him and now we can live in peace with God, with others, and with ourselves! Anyone who decides to follow Jesus is a friend of God and a child of God and can experience the power and peace of God in their lives. In Jesus Christ, there are no enemies. 

DO SOMETHING

Today, think about your life. Are you better than others? Are you a friend or enemy of God? If you want to be God’s friend forever and experience the power of God in your life, ask your parents to pray with you to invite Jesus in your heart.  

PRAY

Dear God, thank You so much for bringing us back to You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins so I can be Your friend forever. Amen.

Have you ever thought it would be cool to hear some C3 leaders discuss the daily verses, share about their lives and mostly just talk about nonsense?  Of course not!…even though nobody has ever thought that we are still doing it.  You can follow along with us each morning in a brand new podcast – Worst Church Podcast Ever – Christmas Eve & Trent Says He Loves Us.