Finding Peace

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." - Romans 5:1-2

"Through faith."  We are justified because we are a "whosoever" who believes in "His only begotten Son".  Through our faith in God's Word, we will no longer suffer a spiritual death or "perish" and become rotten, but will have "eternal life".  It is the actual justification that allows for the absence of the perishing.  The sentence, or judgment, is revoked because it has been paid in full.

Since our sentence has been paid, then "we have peace with God".  This spiritual peace is more than the absence of hostility.  It is a settlement of charges.  Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you."  "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  This otherworldly peace is an establishment of promise from God to us.  Jesus left this peace with us and He gave it to us freely.  He paid the ransom for us.

There are things that can happen within us that we cannot understand except to know that Jesus left peace with us.  He is the Prince of Peace.  "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)  What we continue to not understand is how an all-powerful all-knowing God could so love us that He'd make a way for us to know Him.  Only a God complete in love could or would do this.  No man is capable of such an act.

"We have peace in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith."  We only have access to Jesus through our belief that He is and through that we have peace in God.  This peace with God allows us to stand in His grace of not reaping the deserved punishment of our actions.  This is His peace directed towards us.  He allows it to shine on our soul and settle our heart. 

It seems that as we mature in our walk with God, either the quantity or magnitude of our trials seem wanton to increase.  But, we find that our peace has also increased in proportion to our faith and we are able stand in the grace that allows us to exist in them.  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers out of them all." (Ps 34:19)  Our communion with God is never broken because the peace we have with God is established through Christ.  The debt is paid.  In the middle of the trial, we can rest in confidence that God has established our eternity and He holds our present and our way to that eternity.  Everything else is just a happening around that spiritual reality.