Peace

Meditations for Ragamuffins

April 25, 2024

Peace

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:1 

The Apostle Paul amplifies the truth of Romans 5:1 at the end of his great affirmation of the Supremacy of Christ, “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20). Within this truth is a great mystery.

This mystery is that the peace with God that Christ Jesus won for us means that we are in peace with God even if we don’t feel at peace. The peace of God, which Paul said passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7), was won by Jesus on the cross and does not depend on our shifting moods or feelings. This peace was won for us before we even knew anything about God, or as Paul put it, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8).

In Romans 8, Paul teaches that because we are in Christ, we are the children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. This is truth regardless of whether we feel like it is true. Our acceptance doesn’t make it truth; our acceptance enables us to embrace the truth in life-transforming ways.

One way we can embrace this truth is to sit quietly with the prayerful thought, “Jesus is the beloved child of God.”

Next, sit quietly with the truth of Romans 8 in the prayerful thought, “I am the beloved child of God.”

My Takeaway: This exercise brings forth the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (NRSV) God is calling us to take a leap of faith and believe we are His beloved children. When we do, we experience His shalom.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.