A quick online search reveals the popular definition of peace is, put simply, the absence of trouble or discomfort. If that definition holds true, it should follow that once I rid myself of stressors, I will have peace. Once I accomplish everything on my to do list, I’ll have peace. If I keep everyone around me happy, I’ll have peace. When that person stops playing “All I Want for Christmas is You” on repeat, I’ll have peace. 

But most of us have life experience that proves that definition incomplete. Momentary relief from our current stressors may come, but the reality of our broken world is that there will always be trouble (John 16:33). After enough failed attempts at circumstance remediation, we come to realize we can no longer continue to operate under a definition of peace that insists our best hope is merely temporary physical and emotional relief.  

Enter the greatest gift we will ever receive: the Prince of Peace.

During the Advent season, we remember that Christ is Emmanuel — “God with us.” Perfect light sent into the darkness. Perfect love sent into a world of hate. Perfect joy sent into a world of numbed apathy. Perfect peace sent into a world of chaos and destruction. The calamities of life did not end at His birth; instead, our Prince of Peace joined us in them. Jesus offers us a peace that is supernaturally present in the midst of trials, not just in the absence of them.

So take heart, brothers and sisters. Though you experience trouble, the Prince of Peace has come! This Advent season, may we surrender our incomplete definitions of peace and our desire to control our circumstances, and instead receive and experience the presence of Jesus in the midst of them.