Advent Day 19

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

What are you anxious about? Take a moment and give the question some thought.

Perhaps you woke up to anxieties this morning, or you laid down with them last night. Perhaps they have to do with you personally. Maybe you feel anxious about the well-being of a loved one or about a fraught relationship. You might even feel anxious about the state of something larger than yourself: your job, your church, your country. Whatever it is, Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything.”

To end here, however, would be to leave us all in judgment, for we have just established the ongoing reality of anxiety that pervades our lives.

The good news is that Paul doesn’t end on this command. Instead, he gives us one more command, and then finally, a word of proclamation: Do not be anxious, submit everything in prayer; in other words, “Cast your cares on the Lord” (Ps. 55:22). Do these things not for the peace of God, but because of the peace of God.

This is a peace, which is Christ himself. And as Christ, our Savior who came to live, die, and rise for our sake, this peace transcends all understanding. If such peace were limited to our understanding, it would be limited to our experience and feelings. But while we are grateful when our lives and feelings reflect this reality, Christ’s peace will always be more trustworthy than the changing winds of our circumstances. He is a peace that meets us in our need, sustains us in our suffering, and answers our problems. He is a peace that has the last word on who we are. He is the Prince of Peace, born for you. This is the good news by which he guards our hearts and minds.

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