Peace with God part 3
Here's what I think I'm trying to say in this Rant series: God has made us to be at peace with Him, and because of that we can be at peace with each other. We are AT peace, so we can MAKE peace. And I say God has made us to be at peace with Him because He has always been at peace with us. This idea that God was mad at us before the cross... I just can't see it. Because even when He gave the people of Israel the Law of Moses, He also gave them the system of animal sacrifice. He has always bent over backwards to try to keep His people out of trouble. Even though it was the people themselves getting themselves (ourselves) INTO that trouble. God, like any good heavenly Father, has always been ready, willing, and able to help us clean up our messes. He was never at odds with us. Even when we were at odds with Him. When Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God after eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God didn't punish them. He wasn't mad at them. He DID send them out of the garden of Eden, but that was to protect them. God didn't want them to eat from the Tree of Life in their "fallen" state. But He left an angel to show the way back into the garden. Anyway. Look at Ephesians 6:23, "Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Peace to the brethren and love with faith FROM God the Father. When we ran from Him, He reconciled us back to Him. He swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. And He never did. I heard one preacher describe God as a stalker. No matter what we say about Him or do to Him, He just keeps on loving us. Because that's who He is. God IS love. Its not just what He does... its who He is. And that peace--HIS peace--that He gave to us... that's what allows us be peaceful. To be peacemakers. We CAN love because we ARE loved. We can MAKE peace because we are AT peace. Because God has made us to be at peace with Him. When we were double minded, and unstable in all our ways, God gave us a Rock to stand on. Jesus cursed the fig tree--the tree of knowledge of good and evil--so that there would only be one tree left; the very Tree of Life that God protected us from in the garden, now available to us because of the finished work of the cross. See, when Jesus died (so that we could die to sin and death), and then rose again (so that we could rise again and walk in newness of life), He didn't just give us another chance at our old life. He gave us HIS life. His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love. He pulled us out of the grip of the tree of knowledge of good and evil--double minded, good vs evil--and gave us the fruit of the Tree of Life. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. You are what you eat. Love means a love feast. A feast is for people to share with each other. So as good as being at peace with God is--and it is so, so good--there's more to it. What you have isn't as important as what you do with what you have. What's inside has to come out in order for you to experience it. And what you have--what you believe you have--WILL come it. So let the peace that God gave you come out! Be at peace with each other. Make peace with each other. Its a more excellent way to live.