Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. Luke 2:14

The peace-robber of fear has a cousin named doubt. Doubt has been used by the enemy of our souls from the very beginning.

The seed of doubt was planted in the mind of Adam and Eve in the garden. It was doubt that fueled and extra 20 years of wandering in the wilderness.

It’s doubt that keeps us from seeing the peace that the angels promised the shepherds that night on a lonely hillside outside of Bethlehem.

On Christmas’s day, 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a 57 year old widowed father of six sat in his office. His mind was cluttered with doubt. His wife had died. His oldest had been severely wounded in the Civil war. His country was being torn apart.

As the sound of Christmas bells wrestled with the doubts in his mind he penned this poem which has become a popular Christmas Carol:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

It’s no secret we live in troubled times. Hate is strong. The darkness of conflict is evident in our homes and globally.

But our peace as Christ-followers transcends the evil of this world and reminds us “God is NOT dead.”

Global peace on earth will not happen until the return of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Until then, those of us who trust in him as our Savior can experience peace and share that peace with others.