40 Days of PEACE

Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of PEACE
Day 30 | PEACE WITH GOD | Romans 5:1-2

PEACE WITH GOD

Romans 5:1-2
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God.”

The apostle Paul – writing to the church in Rome – is sharing the benefits of believing in our Lord Jesus Christ. And the significant benefit mentioned here is PEACE with God.  And really, WHO wouldn’t want that?

Throughout the Old Testament, people had to follow certain animal sacrifice rituals to receive God’s forgiveness of sin and restore their right standing with God.
Now, because Jesus came to fulfill the law and bring the final once-for-all sacrifice, Paul again mentions “justification by faith.”

The “justification by faith” theme is the main point of the book of Romans.  In this letter Paul preaches that the ONLY way to have salvation is to be justified by grace through faith.

Romans 10:9 says: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

Here Paul says:  “… we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:1)

Peace.  So many seem to lack peace today. And my take-away from this section of Romans – and other verses we’ve been reading on peace – is that PEACE with God is essential for ANY kind of peace we desire to see in our lives.

When we DO what God requires to have peace with HIM, then we restore our ability to be guided by the Holy Spirit as to WHAT to do, think, and say to those in our lives with whom we are not at peace, and how to rely on HIM to do what we cannot.

Prayer: LORD, I had not connected the dots about how my peace with YOU is connected to my peace with others, but it makes sense.  Lord, help me always to live in peace with YOU. Amen.