“Peace With God Through Jesus Christ!”

“Peace With God Through Jesus Christ!”(Rom.5:1-5).
Now that we are 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.”
How did we gain this access by faith into this grace? Matthew reports that when Jesus gave up his spirit on the cross, “at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…”(27:50-51). This curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place which was hitherto hidden to the worshippers. The torn curtain signified that the death of Christ made it possible for believers to go directly into God’s presence.
We now have peace with God because of the new relationship we now have with him. At first we were his enemies, but now we are friends. We now have “confidence that the purpose for which God created us will be ultimately realized.”
And this is not to say there are no longer dark, hurting and painful days. Far from it, suffering will be our portion too. The difference is that “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that” the outcome of suffering is perseverance, which produces character, and character produces hope. “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
You see my good friend, hope does not disappoint us because such hope is not about unfounded optimism. Our hope is based on the blessed assurance of our destiny, based on God’s love. This love is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and has been demonstrated in the death of Christ.
The day we first believed in Christ, the Holy Spirit poured out his love in our hearts and this love continues to dwell in us as a never-drying, refreshing spring that waters the peace within us so that it should not flounder.
In this is love; the greatest of the three mentioned in the text: faith, hope and love!
Yes, the greatest is love because God is love, and he has communicated his love to us, and has commanded us to love one another. Love will remain the governing principle that controls all that God and his redeemed people are and do!
Therefore, as we continue the journey of Lent, abstinence, prayer and fasting may be useful, but what is of utmost importance is to love in word and in deed!
Weekend prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for being the means through which I enjoy the grace in which I now stand. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.