The Benefits of Being Right with God

Years ago, before I began preaching, I was a graphic designer and did an album cover that illustrated this verse from Isaiah 55: “For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (verse 12 NKJV).

That is how God leads us. He leads us with peace, and we go out with joy. It’s the result of a relationship with Him.

You see, living right with God results in experiencing the peace of God. Isaiah also tells us, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever” (32:17 NKJV).

At age 17, I heard what it meant to become a follower of Jesus and what Jesus could do for me. So I prayed and asked Christ to come into my life. And that day I remember feeling as though a massive weight had been lifted off me.

I realized later that it was the weight of my sin. Everyone carries a weight like that. Now, some people have sinned more than others, but one sin is enough to keep you out of Heaven. Every one of us has sinned. Every one of us has broken God’s commandments. And every one of us has fallen short of God’s standards.

That is why Jesus died on the cross. The Bible says, “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV).

God punished Jesus, if you will, in the way that you and I should have been punished. Jesus bore the weight of our sins. He was our substitution. He died in our place. Jesus came to pay a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.