At Peace With God

Romans 4 ends with us being credited righteousness based on our faith (not works) in Jesus Christ. Romans 5 picks up right from there - "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Observation #1 - We have PEACE with God! In spite of everything we've done, and everything we will do in the future, we have PEACE with God! It doesn't mean, of course, that I don't need to continually come to the Lord and repent and be cleaned up. And it doesn't mean that I've arrived or that I'm fine the way I am. It just means that in this moment, I am not condemned by my sins - past, present, or future. I am at peace with God which frees me up to follow after Him with all of my heart, mind, and life and that I do not have to walk on eggshells, wondering if I'm still saved, or if He's mad at me. We are at peace - perfect - lasting - unexplainable peace.

Observation #2 - We have stepped into His grace (state of God's favor). We stand firm in this grace and are now able to experience and enjoy the glory of God. Which means, that before we had placed our faith in Jesus, we were not and would not ever be able to truly experience or enjoy the glory of God (because of sin - but now we are at peace with God). This is another step in forming a relationship with God - learning to enjoy Him - not just fear, reverence and sit in awe of Him (although these are good and important also).

Observation #3 - Being at peace with God and standing in His grace draws us forward into life with Him where we learn to exult and triumph in our tribulations (troubles and sufferings) BECAUSE we know that tribulation brings about perseverance which brings character which brings hope - and that hope will not disappoint us because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts.

God has made us at peace with Him and brought us into His grace. Now, through His grace we walk through times of suffering, filled with difficulties that will bring about perseverance, which leads to character and ultimately ends with filling us with hope that will never disappoint because of the love of God that is poured into our hearts. I could never do this justice by trying to explain what I think, but I'll try anyways - its almost written as though grace is the gateway to tribulations and sufferings. At least its the natural progression and yet we look at it like its the most unnatural thing in the world. As soon as life gets hard, we question what we've done wrong - instead of what we're doing right. We look at it as punishment instead of looking to see what God is refining in us. We're not perfect to start out - that's why He saved us in the first place. Now, He is making us His very own - and our very best. I don't want to fight against what He is trying to do in me. I want to persevere. I want proven character. I want to be filled with hope no matter what the circumstance and I want to have the love of God poured out in my life so that it overflows onto every person that I come in contact with. Praise the Lord because this is the exact path that He has each of us on. We are not brought into right standing with God to go about our lives and know we have a safety net in place. We are brought into right standing with God so that we can approach Him boldly, so that we can know Him on a deep and intimate level and so that we can be changed to be the very best that we could ever possibly be and so much better than we could ever possibly imagine!