Unwrapping Advent: Through Voices of Wisdom Dec 14
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Day 14
14 Christ is our peace.
He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group.
With his body, he broke down the
barrier of hatred that divided us.
15 He canceled the detailed rules of the Law
so that he could create one new person
out of the two groups, making peace.
16 He reconciled them both as one body to God
by the cross, which ended the hostility to God.
Ephesians 2:14-16, CEB
Reconciling Peace
I worked with a gentleman in the same job in our company for close to 35 years. Although our relationship started as good, at one point in our careers, I developed bitter feelings toward him because he was not doing his fair share of the work.
Early on, through hard work and dedication, I became a top producer and maintained that level of performance until retirement. Yet, I had a hard time reconciling this gentleman’s effort when compared with mine. While we were all good friends, this kept bugging both me and others. Here I was, beginning to have ill feelings towards this Christian man because he did not meet my standards.
I talked to our boss several times, trying to get an idea of why he allowed this. One day the boss explained his perspective to me.
“He does enough work to cover his salary. If he wasn’t here, then you would have to do all those smaller jobs he’s doing along with the larger projects you are already working.”
I had been so focused on me that I could not see the big picture of how things worked. The boss’ viewpoint broke down the barrier of hatred that divided my peer and me. It reconciled us as peaceful friends again. I will never forget my boss’ simple comment. It opened my eyes to a new way to approach things in my life.
Reflect: Are you willing to open your eyes to a different way in order to bring peace between you and others? What do you need to do to allow Christ to show more through you?
Prayer: Christ, you offer me so many blessings in my life. Help me to open myself to see things in Your way and not always my way. Help me to foster peace in all things in my life. In Your name, I pray. Amen.
Shelby Barley
Seekers Small Group Facilitator