This passage of scripture found in Isaiah chapter nine is a prophesy of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. It is a familiar passage to most Christians.
"For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6 NKJV
I was a bit confused when I read the same passage in The Message Bible and read the words Prince of Wholeness instead of Prince of Peace. I looked up the passage in a Hebrew lexicon and the definition of the word for peace, shalom, really does include completeness and wholeness. When Jesus is born the angels declare, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:24 NKJV). In the original language of the New Testament that word peace means, not only peace of mind, but once again it also means wholeness. Then in John 14:27 (AMPC) when Jesus declares, "Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]", the word peace is the same word used in Luke 2:24 meaning peace of mind as well as wholeness.
It seems the human condition includes a constant search for something or someone to complete us, to make us feel whole. We hope to find wholeness in a mate, in a fulfilling career, in having a family, in achieving our life goals. Yet, even if we attain what the world would describe as "having it all", we can still sense that there is something missing. That's because there is. No one can complete us, can make us truly whole, but the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Wholeness, Jesus Christ.
At Christmas time we can be especially vulnerable to having high expectations. We can have a lot of expectations on ourselves. We have long lists of things we have to do in order to make Christmas perfect. We can have a lot of expectations on our loved ones. We want the kind of warm and loving family gatherings we see on holiday tv movies. We want our family to make us feel loved and appreciated. Our high expectations set us up for disappointment and resentment. When we accept the truth that no one and nothing on earth can truly complete us and make us whole, that Christ alone can do that, then we begin to lighten the heavy load of high expectations that we place on ourselves and others.
This Christmas, let's open our hearts wide to the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Wholeness. Let's let Jesus fill all of our emptiness with His perfect love and let Him meet all of the desires and longings of our heart. Chances are high that none of us will have a perfect Christmas because none of us are perfect and none of us have a perfect family. Accepting that fact and leaning on Jesus to be our source of completeness and wholeness will enable us to let go, relax and enjoy the beauty and wonder of the Christmas season right in the middle of our messy imperfection.
Our Woman to Woman Ministries Christmas break starts next weekend so this will be the last post from me on Woman to Woman Ministries until the first Sunday in January. Merriest of Christmases to all of you and may God richly bless each one of you!
I love this. I did not know this about the word peace. It also makes me think that peace cannot come from one individual but must come from a whole. There can be no true peace until there is peace on all the earth.
ReplyDeleteI'm so thankful that we can have peace within through our relationship with Christ, even in this very divisive and unpeaceful world.
ReplyDeleteHave a good Christmas with family and friends. So true the constant search for Peace. Amen to the fact that Jesus gives us Peace. ~hugs~
ReplyDeleteGod bless and comfort you as you go through this first Christmas without your husband.
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