It happened in an instant. I walked out the front door to pick up a package and before I could do anything about it, a gust of wind slammed it shut. The keys were inside, the door was locked, and the extra set of keys was out of town in my husband’s pocket. I was on the outside looking in. No matter how many times I rattled the doorknob or walked around the house searching for an unlocked window to climb in, I wasn’t going to get in.

All it took was Satan’s masquerade as a friendly snake and a taste of forbidden fruit. After that moment, Adam and Eve were locked out. They were sent out of the very garden in which Adam had named the animals. They were banished from the place where they had lived in perfection and walked with God. This separation from God was not just for the two of them, but for every person born into this world. A world that was once perfect became tainted with sin and filled with strife and hardship. Sin, in a single moment, had shattered the peace between God and man and created a chasm that no one could cross.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the end of the story. As we read the angels’ words in Luke 2, we hear of the solution to this shattered peace between God and man. In a small town that was bursting at the seams because of a greedy politician, God fulfilled his almighty plans to insert peace into a broken world. In a manger in that crowded town lay the One who would live the perfect life we could not, die the death we deserved, and rise to life triumphantly, restoring peace between man and God.

This peace is different from what the world expects and is not what our sinful hearts desire. Too often, we want conflict ended, a comfortable existence, and smooth sailing here on earth. Yet, that isn’t the peace that Jesus brings. The peace of Jesus is far greater than that. The peace of Jesus is knowing that because of his sacrifice, our relationship with God has been restored. The peace of Jesus is knowing that we stand in God’s grace even when the world around us crumbles. The peace of Jesus tempers any earthly uncertainty with unshakable hope in a heavenly future. While this peace will never eliminate earthly struggle, it gives us hope and a future in spite of it.

That first Christmas night, the angels both proclaimed the birth of the One who brought peace and praised God because of it. We too echo the words of the angels. We glorify God with our words and our lives and share that true peace with the world around us. By grace, we are no longer on the outside looking in. Instead we have peace with God. We stand firm in this peace, which sustains us in this life until we join the angel choirs praising him for eternity in heaven.