Peace with God

 

Sin – an obstacle to peace.

 

Sin is well and truly inside each one of us, even if we find that hard to accept. As soon as we start thinking even a little about our condition before God, troubling thoughts come to mind about sin: what’s good and bad, what will happen after death and so on. When distressing circumstances burst into our lives or when we get to death’s door, sin troubles the conscience and we feel the need to get in contact with God. Very quickly we discover we’re unable to do anything by ourselves; we’re spiritually dead. Our wrongdoings, our sins have cut us off from God. Our spiritual and moral state is so desperate that we feel we can’t possibly go into the presence of God in His holiness.

 

The Holy Spirit has been working in men’s hearts from the beginning. He wants to convince them of their sinful condition but very often pride blinds their minds and makes them think they’re only accountable to themselves. They constantly close their minds to His voice; they don’t want to hear about God’s love or about the need to get right with Him. However God loves each person He has created. He demonstrated this when He gave “his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3. 16). The Son of God “was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised for our justification” (Romans 4. 25). Through the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross for our sins and His resurrection, God can reconcile His great love for us with His perfect righteousness.

 

How God offers peace

God’s righteousness had to be satisfied. The Lord Jesus completed the work to do this when He took the guilty sinner’s place at the cross. He gave His life as a sacrifice for sin. He took upon Himself all our sins: “the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him” (Isaiah 53. 6). The sin question has been dealt with once and for all before God because the work of redemption was fully completed there. All we have to do to have our sins blotted out and be forgiven is : believe, because God is “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3. 26). This gives us complete freedom to enter God’s presence and present our requests to Him at the throne of grace. He wants to bless us.

 

Have you peace with God?

Do you realise you’re a sinner?

 

If your answer to the last question is yes, you need to radically change your attitude towards sin!   Do it immediately! Accept, first of all, that you’ve offended God with all your wrongdoings. We’ll all have to give an account of ourselves to God one day. Do it now as an urgent matter; turn to Him, humbly recognising the fact that you’ve failed to reach His standard.

 

Recognise that you’re a sinner. Grasp by faith that Jesus, the Son of God, is the only One who has died and risen again to pay the debt for your sins! He wants to be your Saviour. Change direction; turn your back on your wicked and sinful ways. Start out on the path of light which will lead you to God! Religious practices will not save you. Make a real decision in your heart today for Christ. Then you’ll receive forgiveness of sins and escape everlasting punishment.  You will be born again, forgiven and justified by God who will give you eternal life. Then you will have real peace with God.