The English poet, John Ruskin, once wrote, "You may either win your peace or buy it: Win it, by resistance to evil; buy it, by compromise with evil." I think Ruskin would agree with the premise that you can be at peace in only one of two ways. Either live in a castle or fortress that is so secure, strong and impenetrable that no one–even God Himself–could ever come within, or make peace with your enemies.
Obviously, the first option is not a possibility. But the second is. "Dear Dr. Sala," wrote a friend of Guidelines, "More than anything else I would like to know that I have peace with God."
I have been producing Guidelines since 1963. In these intervening years only God knows how many have responded, pouring out their hearts. Many of those who write tell about the unrest an discontentment of a broken relationship with God. The girl who feels estranged from God since she aborted her unborn child. The dad who walked out on his wife and children for another woman.
How do you make peace with God? In war, both sides of the conflict draw lines and build fortifications with a no-man’s-land in between. Sometimes we build fortifications in our lives and never allow the sunlight of God’s love to penetrate them. We raise the drawbridge and hurl our angry thoughts and words against God, who, we think, is our enemy. He’s not.
A long time ago, God sent His Son, unarmed, to make peace with us. He walked across that vast no-man’s-land–that dark valley which separates us from God, which separates mortal from immortal–and the Son was born in Bethlehem. He made it very clear that His Father is not an angry enemy, trying to get you. Jesus said, "Pace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27).
First, we must understand that God wants us to have peace with Him. God’s Son came to show us how to find His peace, to drive away the darkness of fear and the bitterness of loneliness.
The second step to peace with God is to understand that God made Christ to be sin for us so that we might be accepted, without guilt, in God’s sight. This enables God to forgive our sins, rebellion and wrongdoing. Forgiveness, however, isn’t automatic. We have to ask for it, confessing our sin. That’s your part, and it’s the equivalent of raising up the white flag and surrendering.
Then what happens? God says, "I even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25). That’s good news! When we know that God has forgiven us, His peace fills our heart.
Resource Reading: 2 Peter 2