Photo by Jonathan Meyer
By Mike Chaffin
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
When a beauty pageant contestant is asked what they want to do if crowned the winner the pat answer is usually to achieve world peace.
However, the Bible is clear we will never have world peace, although we Christians are told to live peaceable with all men. We are also instructed in the beatitudes,
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9
Beatitudes are spiritual blessings. The verse in Mathew helps explain our verse today. We make peace with God by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior.
The Greek word used for ‘with’ means toward. It is our moving toward God and away from the pleasures of this world that brings us eternal peace and the peace that passes all understanding.
James warns Christians about the flawed desire to live at peace with the ways of the world,
Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4
There is no greater reward than peace with God. But we will rob ourselves of peace if we pursue worldly pleasures. Too many people aren’t at peace because they don’t want to give up their sinful lifestyle. True peace comes from walking with God. When we do, we don’t want to sin. Sin has no hold on us if we stay in communion with Christ. Jesus warned us that we can’t serve God and mammon. Here mammon means unrighteousness. As Joshua told the Israelites, “Choose this day whom you will serve!”
Prayer: Lord, thank you that when we put our faith in you, we have peace. While the world is falling down around us, we know we can lean on you, look to you and talk to you. It is so peaceful knowing You. I praise you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
* There is a website that conducted a search for Bible verses. They compiled a list of the verses in order of the magnitude of hits they got in their search. Some of these verses probably qualify as ‘people’s favorites’, while others might be on the list because they are some of the most important and most teachable words of God.
