“For He Himself is our peace.” — Ephesians 2:14
There are places in every heart we tend to avoid —
memories we don’t want to reopen, fractures we don’t want to face, conversations we dread, wounds we’d rather ignore.
Advent isn’t just about peace in the abstract.
It’s about peace that walks straight into the places we avoid.
Jesus doesn’t stand at the edge of our brokenness and call us to come out healed.
He steps into the fracture.
He Himself is our peace — not a feeling, but a Person. Not a principle, but Presence.
As the early church father Athanasius wrote:
“He became what we are, that He might make us what He is.” — Athanasius
Where we feel divided internally, He brings wholeness.
Where relationships are strained, He offers reconciliation.
Where shame lingers, He speaks a better word.
Where fear rules, He breathes calm.
This is the miracle of Advent:
Peace is not something we achieve.
Peace is Someone who arrives.
And because He has come, we can walk into the places we avoid — not alone, but with the Prince of Peace Himself.
Reflection Question: What hidden or avoided place in your life needs the presence of Christ’s peace today?
Practice: Take one area of avoidance — a memory, a conversation, a wound — and whisper this truth over it: “He Himself is my peace.”
Prayer: Prince of Peace, step into the places I’ve avoided. Bring wholeness where there is fracture and calm where there is fear. Teach me to walk in Your peace — and to be a peacemaker in Your name. Amen.
When God Came Near 