Peace! (Romans 5:1)

I remember a time in elementary school when I was at war. There was a kid who had it out for me. He had essentially declared war between us. Granted, my behavior probably didn't help the matter, and something I said to or about him was part of the onset of hostilities. We had a few skirmishes, a battle here and there, but we never went full scale land invasion. Neither of us really wanted to duke it out until one was incapacitated and the other arrested, especially not me. The other kid was bigger, faster, stronger, and meaner. I knew who would win this war if the fighting ever really took place, and it wasn't me. I spent a lot of time not being where he could find me. I wasn't specifically being a coward (I had helped create the war after all), but I certainly wasn't looking to engage the enemy in open combat. Even so, I continued my trash talking as though I really did want the final showdown.

In the same way that my words had initiated a war with this kid, my sin created a war between God and me. My whole life apart from Christ was consumed by this war. I spent all my time actively engaged in offensive gestures specifically designed to provoke a confrontation. This was, of course, sin. My behavior, my thoughts, my very being were an affront to a holy God. Also, just like it was with the kid, I really didn't want a final confrontation. I did not want the judgement I knew in my heart of hearts I was destined for. What can be known of God is made plain to all of us, just as Paul tells us in Romans 1. I didn't need to be a prophet to know the outcome of my war with God. I would lose. So, just like always, I avoided the confrontation while continuing my provocative gestures.

Thankfully, oh so thankfully, God did not end the war by nuking me into oblivion. He went nuclear, but the object of his righteous wrath was Jesus. The Lamb of God stood in the fiery heat of God's divine justice, at the very center of the nuclear blast of God's holy fury, in my place. He took the whole of my well deserved punishment and declared, "It is finished." Hostilities could finally cease. The war was over. God had won. My sins were atoned for. Everything I had done to initiate and continue the war was washed away by the blood of Jesus. There could be peace.

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have peace with God. What a comfort. What joy these words provoke in my spirit. I've been at war before with human enemies, and it was terrible. The constant fear of the next confrontation, the trembling at potential outcomes, the total domination of my life by the conflict cannot begin to compare to the war I had engaged in with God. Hiding from an omniscient God is silly and impossible. Yet I spent most of my life trying to do it. Engaging in hostilities with an omnipotent God is stupid and eternally deadly. Yet I willfully did so. It was a war I was destined to lose, and yet here I am in spite of it all. No more hiding from God, because there is peace. No more provoking God, because there is peace. No more fear and trembling. No more war. Peace. PEACE. PEACE! Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus, for peace.