What is is like to have peace with God? Is it even possible?
I believe with all of my heart that peace with God is possible, and that he’s is constantly wooing us to spend time with him.
But, you don’t know what I’ve done, or the mistakes I’ve made. Surely, God can’t be pleased with me.
It’s easy to have those thoughts, because we all make mistakes. We experience sin in our lives and we pull away from God, but we need to know that God is not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). He sent Jesus into this world to become sin, so that we can become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
It’s not about your obedience
God does not judge your righteousness (your right standing with him) on your obedience or disobedience. God looks to the obedience of his son, Jesus, to determine our righteousness. Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). It was a heavenly exchange! We are perfect is God’s eyes, not based on what we do, but on what we believe.
And now that God has declared us righteous, we can…
Go boldly into God’s throne
Because of what Christ has done, we can now “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16).
Too often, we pull away from God because of our sins. We don’t feel worthy enough to stand before a perfect God. Sin only separates us from God because we pull away, not because he pulls away. God is always moving towards us, whispering his love to use. He wants you to…
Come as you are, not as you should be
Too often, we think God wants us to clean up our act before coming to him. Wrong! God took away the sins of the world (John 1:29) so that we can come to him as we are–messed up, confused, trapped in lies and in need of his transforming love. God wants to help you with every area of your life. He wants to wipe away your tears, and give you a divine courage to face every fear!
Our peace with God is not dependent upon what we do, but on what we believe. I believe Jesus took away all my sins (past, present and future), and because of that, I can come boldly to the throne of grace in my time of need. There, I’ll find God running to meet me, ready to embrace me, love me and tell me everything is going to be okay.
Prayer: Father, show me how much you love me. Whisper your love into my heart that I may know you are with me always.
