Across our nation there is turmoil. We see it in the protests in our streets, in road rage, and in senseless murders in our cities. Many are lost in the world of drugs and alcohol. Our courts are packed with divorce cases, lawsuits and custody battles. Many rebel against society seeking equality and human rights.

At the same time church pews sit empty each Sunday, Bible classrooms sit unused, and prayers have gone silent in our schools. Meanwhile, Christianity is attacked on the evening news and in the halls of congress. Yet, it is the Christianity they ridicule that can heal our nation. The Jesus they reject is the only one that can bring the peace they seek.

At his birth the angels announced, “And on earth peace among men” (Lk. 2:14). It was Jesus who taught us to love our neighbor, who gave us the golden rule, who had compassion on the poor, and taught lessons against discrimination. “In the world you have tribulation,” he said. But, “these things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace” (Jn. 16:33). Jesus is the answer, yet America has done as the Jews did, when, “those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn. 1:11). The turmoil we see in our nation will not be healed by protests and government, but by God’s gift of His Son. This month, as His birth is celebrated by so many, our nation needs to again respect and follow His teachings.

-Dennis Doughty