“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” – Romans 5:1-2
When we are unsaved we are at enmity with God. Thankfully while we were still opposed to God and bound by sin, Christ died for us to prove His love. The fellowship between God and man that was broken in the garden was reconciled by the sacrificial death of God’s Son on the cross some 2000 years ago. Our fists that were once clenched in rebellion are now open hands raised in surrender to our Lord. Our teeth that were once gritted in hatred are now stretched into a bright smile at the thought of God’s redeeming love. There is no greater feeling than to know that you are at peace with God in the middle of this world where there is no peace.
How about in the life of the believer? We are obviously no longer enemies of God when we are born again into His family. So how is this applicable to us? Although we are no longer His enemies we can still be at odds with the Lord and His will. Whether believer or not we still have our own free will to choose what we are going to do and sometimes we still choose contrary to God which puts a strain on our relationship with Him. Similar to a friend or family member having a disagreement and a time of separation instead in this case we can place the blame fully on our shoulders.
God is always in the right and never loses an argument even if we’d rather disagree and flee. Any difficulty in our relationship with God is plainly the fault of the believer resisting the will of God and refusing to surrender their own will. This is a losing battle no doubt but that never deters us from stomping our feet and thinking we can get our own way. Even as believers we too need to make the decision to daily surrender our will to the Lord, which some days make take the Jaws of Life to pry our fingers away from, but in the end there is nothing like living a life at total peace with God.
“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight…” – Colossians 1:19-22