Peace with God part 5
God has always been at peace with us. He always has, and always will, love us. He created us in order TO love us. The God who is love created us so that He could express Himself--express His love--to us. The problem was... we weren't at peace with Him. We didn't know who we were, because we didn't know who He was. We were double minded, and unstable in all our ways. Picking flower petals and hoping we ended up on "He loves me," instead of, "He loves me not." And that's not a very peaceful way to live. Wishing and hoping we had something we didn't think we had. Trying as hard as we could to get that thing (that love) that we didn't think we had. That's no way to live. That's not living at all. Because to live is to love, and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other and you can't do one without the other, because they are the same thing. So what God did was... He made us to be at peace with Him. He gave us His peace. So that even though in this world you WILL have tribulation... you can be of good cheer. You can, in fact, MAKE peace. Because you HAVE peace. We go through things, but we don't have to let things go though us. We can rise above the things that are trying to drag us down. We can let the peace that's inside come out. Simply by knowing and believing that its in there. Look at Psalm 29:11, "The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace." And to end this Rant series I want to make that connection between peace and strength. Because we seem to think that if we're not fighting someone or something we're weak. "Spiritual warriors." And always looking for a war to fight. Zechariah 9:15 in the Message Bible says, "God-of-the-Angel-Armies will protect them--all-out war, The war to end all wars, no holds barred." That was the cross. God protecting us from death by dying for us (and as us). God defeating the last enemy, which is death, and leaving no more wars to fight. Let me say that last part again--leaving no more wars to fight. The only fight we're supposed to participate in is the good fight of faith--laying hold of eternal life. Which, since eternal life is the gift that we've already been given... the good fight of faith is simply knowing and believing that we already have it. Simply experiencing and enjoying the gift that we already have. By sharing it. By giving it away. Giving ourselves away. That's how we make peace--we lay our lives down for our friends. We stop fighting. God won the only battle that mattered--the war to end all wars. And because He fought it, and won it, He not only made us at peace with Him, but He made peace FOR us. So that we can be at peace with each other. We don't have to worry about God being out to get us... because He already got us. In the best way. On the cross. He got us by drawing us into Himself, and planting Himself in us. Peace with God has never been an issue for God. And it doesn't have to be an issue for us. By receiving it and releasing it, we can settle the issue. We can be peacemakers, and be called (or identified as) the Son(s) of God. We can be of good cheer. We can enjoy that peaceful, easy feeling no matter what happens.