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| Billie Silvey |
| December 2006 |
| Peace with God |
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| As Christians, our most important relationship is with God. Peace with God is important to us, and it is something all can have. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10). Reconciliation means to settle differences and restore harmony. Our sin is a difference that separates and alienates us from God, but Jesus’ sacrifice heals the breach and brings peace, recalling another carol we sing at Christmas: Hark! the Herald Angels sing, Glory to the new-born King, Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinner reconcil’d. Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies, With the angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Chorus: Hark! the Herald Angels sing, Glory to the new-born King. Hail the Heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, Risen with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, Born that men no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth. Chorus The reconciliation with God that Jesus brings gives us peace with God and peace with ourselves. It frees us from sin and guilt, frees us to love. And more broadly, it enables us to reach out to others with the reconciliation we have in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). |