Peace with God

Shalom! This is an ancient Hebrew custom passed down for generations. We often translate the word as PEACE. But in actuality peace is not the meaning of Shalom, peace is the by-product of it.

My best understanding of the rich meaning of the word Shalom is “everything as it should be in abundance.”

When God created Adam and Eve, He put them in a garden. They lived their in Shalom. Every need was met and in abundance. It wasn’t until they chose to eat the forbidden fruit that they lost the complete provision and protection of God. The result is we no longer live in Shalom. We live in a world of Chaos.

When Jesus became one of us, He came proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. His death and resurrection offer us a way to return to Shalom out of the Chaos.

In Romans 5, Paul is discussing the idea of having Peace with God. In it He describes four things that we are in the Chaos of this world before we choose to follow Jesus:

1. Powerless – God is all powerful, but we cannot do anything to change our circumstances and return to Shalom.
2. Ungodly – This means we are not like God. We are separated from Him. We are in Chaos.
3. Sinners – We have a broken nature that creates and desires the Chaos over God’s provision and protection.
4. God’s Enemies – We abuse our freewill and reject God’s wisdom in our lives.

“Wait a minute! I am not God’s enemy. I like God, I even love Him.” This was my reaction when I read this concept of being God’s enemy first time. It took me two weeks to realize this truth.

As I wrestled with the idea, I came to the question, “How could I be God’s enemy?” This question led to another question, “Who sits on the throne of my heart?” The answer to that was simple. Satan didn’t sit on the throne to my heart, I did. That is when I realized that my heart belonged to the One who created it and died for it. And if I was on the throne to my heart, I was sitting on God’s throne.

Anyone sitting on God’s throne is God’s enemy!

There it is, before Christ, I am God’s enemy. But Paul doesn’t leave us in such chaos. He goes on to show us four things we are after Christ:

1. Justified – This is a legal term. An over simplification but a great help in understanding this idea is a play on the word itself, “JUST as IF I’ED” never sinned.
2. Saved – Simply put we have been rescued.
3. Reconciled – Our relationship with God has been restored.
4. Full of Joy – The result is we have the joy of Shalom.

The word for reconciled is a compound word in the Greek. The idea in the original language is “the coming together to transform a relationship.”

Peace with God is coming together with Christ to transform our relationship!

Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 5:1-

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us,

Did you hear that? This hope will not disappoint us, Why? 

because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

We can know Shalom once again. While we are in this world, the world around us will continue to present Chaos, but we can know Shalom in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Peace with God

If you are not a follower of Jesus, you are part of Paul’s first list. Once you choose to follow Jesus you become part of the second! You can come together with Jesus and transform your relationship with Him. If you want to know more about choosing to follow Jesus, please contact me. I would love to help you walk through the process to Believe, Repent, Confess Christ, Submit to Baptism and live a life of love and service.

If you are already of follower, but have reclaimed the throne of your heart. You can still be reconciled with Jesus and know peace with God again. To learn more on surrendering the throne back to God, please contact me.

Shalom! May everything be as it should be in abundance!