Conditions for Peace

One of the first things I remember about the day I put my faith in Christ was the sense of peace filling my heart. It was as though someone had lifted a heavy burden from me. It wasn’t until later, when I read the Bible, that I learned about God’s promise of peace to every believer. He has given it to us as a gift.

However, this peace does not come from what we are, but from what God has done. The cause of this peace is our being justified by faith. The effect of it is the peace that we experience. We cannot have this wonderful effect without the beginning cause. If we are fighting with God, if we are resisting His plan and purpose for our lives, then we will not experience this peace.

I think many people would like to have the wonderful results of the Christian life without having to pay the price. In other words, they would like to know they are forgiven. They would like to know they will go to Heaven when they die, but they still want to live as they please. They don’t want to put their complete faith and trust in Jesus.

We cannot have the wonderful privileges of peace without first meeting God’s requirements. Colossians 1:20 says that through Jesus Christ, “God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in Heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” The only way we will experience the peace of God that passes all human understanding is through the blood of the cross, the blood Jesus shed.

You cannot have the peace of God until you first have peace with God.