“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). I love that Christ is the Prince of Peace. In the campaign to bring peace, rest, hope, and healing to a world wracked by wars and rumors of wars, tumults and upheavals, chaos and contention of every kind, He is our commander and our captain and our leader. But He has left many of the important battles up to us. Each of us has an opportunity to bring peace to a troubled world. Christ is always on call to bring to bear whatever resources and influence that we might need to establish peace and tranquility within our own heart, within our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our countries and even the world at large. But Christ is not a tyrant or a despot. He will not force peace upon us with an iron fist whether we like it or not. But He is also not some toothless and performative puppet figure who will wring his hands and hope for the best. Christ does have specific goals in mind and He will call on each of us to carry out His vision. If the world is not as peaceful as we think it ought to be, then that may be because too many of us have been too lax on responding to the call to carry out the Prince of Peace’s directives. I know that the more that we seek to do what Christ would have us do, the more we will be whole and complete and at peace in our own lives and that peace will ripple outwards. With so many huge and daunting problems facing the world right now, it seems impossible that any one of us could possibly make a difference. But then again, it probably seemed impossible that a child born in a stable outside a tiny village in an obscure corner of the empire could make much of a difference either.
