Early Black Friday deals are the new normal in early November, and with Halloween behind us Christmas decorations are popping up everywhere.
The Holidays are in full swing, and NOW is the perfect time to take a quick pause and ask:
When was the last time you walked into the holiday season with peace in your heart instead of a knot in your stomach?
If you’re like most of the Christians we talk to, it’s been a while.
This week we wrote about Holiday Stress and the Bible, and how so many Christian homes have traded the joy of Christ for the pressures of the season. We sing about peace while running ourselves ragged, and then January comes and we promise ourselves next year will be different.
Then in 5 Holiday Sugar Lies Christians Need to Stop Believing, we tackled the holiday table itself. God made the sugar cane and called it good, which is why we’d rather live by “all GOOD things in moderation” than by the old line about everything in moderation.
Both of those posts point to the same problem, and it runs deeper than the calendar or the cookie tray.
Somewhere between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, a lot of us lose sight of the One we’re celebrating.
The good news is that the peace we keep chasing in December was never supposed to come from a perfect holiday. God promised it long before the first Christmas, to a people walking in darkness…
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” — Isaiah 9:6
Isaiah wrote those words about seven hundred years before Bethlehem, to a nation surrounded by enemies and bracing for hard years ahead.
Notice that God didn’t promise them a calmer world or an easier year, because He promised them a Person, and He gave that Person the name Prince of Peace.
That’s still how He works in a crowded December: He rarely clears the schedule for us, yet He always offers us Himself right in the middle of it.
And Isaiah kept going in the very next verse, with a promise about how long that peace would last…
“Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” — Isaiah 9:7
No end means the peace of Christ doesn’t run out on the third party of the weekend. It doesn’t stay home when you walk into a crowded kitchen full of relatives who have opinions about your plate.
Here’s what that kind of peace can look like in your home this season…
Saying a kind no to the event that would pull your family in five directions
Setting your gift budget before you shop, so your generosity doesn’t follow you into the new year as debt
Bringing a dish you made to the party, so you’re not standing hungry at the dessert table
Guarding one day each week for worship, rest, and unhurried time together
Reading Luke 2 out loud as a family before anyone opens a present
Every one of those choices gets easier once you’ve settled, before the first invitation arrives, Who sits at the center of your season. Peace rarely shows up by accident in a season this full, so it helps to decide ahead of time what your family will protect.
Jesus talked about a peace the world can’t hand out, and He said it to His disciples the night before the cross…
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” — John 14:27
The world’s version of holiday peace depends on everything going right, from the turkey to the travel to the toddler’s nap. The peace Jesus gives holds even when the pie burns and the flight gets delayed.
That’s the peace we want for our home this year, and it’s the peace we’re praying over yours.
You don’t have to earn a peaceful holiday, because you get to receive one from the Prince of Peace Himself.
So before the first invitation, the first grocery run, and the first string of lights, let’s bring the whole season to Him.
Find a quiet spot and pray this out loud with us. A whisper counts.
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” — Colossians 3:15
Pray this with us: 🙏
Heavenly Father, You see the season ahead of me more clearly than I do. You know the calendar I’m already worried about, the gifts I haven’t bought yet, the tables I’ll sit at, and the conversations I’m dreading.
Thank You that You sent Your Son, the Prince of Peace, into a world that was anything but peaceful. Thank You that His peace has no end, and that it doesn’t depend on my holiday going perfectly.
Lord, I come to You today ready to make You the center of this season again, instead of squeezing You in around everything else.
Help me remember what we’re celebrating. Help me keep Jesus at the center of our table, our tree, our calendar, and our conversations, so my family sees a home where He is the reason and not the decoration.
Help me say yes to what matters and a kind no to what doesn’t. Help me give generously without spending what I don’t have, and help me rest when You tell me to rest.
Holy Spirit, when I feel the pressure rising, remind me Who I belong to. Let the peace of Christ rule in my heart, and make me thankful.
Your Word says You give a peace the world can’t give. I can’t manufacture that kind of peace on my own, so fill me with Yours.
Bring Your peace to my marriage and my family. Where the holidays usually bring tension, bring patience, and help us choose each other over the to-do list.
Bring Your peace to our gatherings. Give me grace for every relative and every opinion, and let my words point everyone around the table to Jesus.
Bring Your peace to our finances. Help us plan our giving before we shop, and keep us from the kind of generosity that follows us into the new year as debt.
Bring Your peace to our table. Thank You for every good gift You made, and give me the wisdom and self-control to honor You with what I eat, without judging anyone else’s plate.
Bring Your peace to my body. Where I’ve run myself ragged, give me rest, and help me care for this temple so I have the energy to love the people You’ve given me.
Bring Your peace to my mind. Quiet the lists and the what-ifs, and let my first thoughts each morning be about You.
Lord, help me avoid letting the calendar, the crowd, or the shopping list push You to the edges of celebrations that are supposed to be about You.
I am not a slave to the calendar. I am not a slave to other people’s expectations. I am not a slave to the credit card. I am not a slave to the dessert table. I am not a slave to comparison. I am not a slave to the pressure of a perfect holiday.
This season does not get to steal my peace.
I belong to Jesus.
Teach me to walk in the peace You’ve already given me.
Not a peace that depends on everything going right, but a peace that holds when the pie burns and the plans change. Peace in my heart. Peace in my home. Peace that has no end.
Today, I trade my hurry for Your rest, and my holiday pressure for Your abundant life.
I receive Your peace. I receive Your rest. I receive Your wisdom at every table. I receive joy in the good gifts You made. I receive Your presence in every gathering this season. I receive the abundant life You came to give me.
Amen.
The holidays can turn a husband and wife into a logistics team. These are the eleven lessons that almost cost us our marriage before we learned them…
Upgrade and learn what God’s Word says about every area of life
and how to live it. That’s what Bible Health is all about.
Walk each 6-week live group study the day it opens.
Get the Blueprint and every weekly Swap.
Follow Jesus, not trends, in every area.
As always, our hope and prayer is that you experience the abundant life.
~ Dr. Z & Mama Z
P.S. Before the week is over, sit down with your calendar and pray over every event between now and New Year’s. Then pick one night to keep for nothing but family, and protect it.