There is nothing we can do to pursue peace with God. In fact, we are not even inclined to do so. We remain ignorant and indifferent in our estrangement, even though our lives are at stake.

“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1)

When you think of peace, what springs to mind? Perhaps you think of the enmity that exists in the Middle East between Israel and her Arab neighbors and the recently brokered peace deals. Or your mind may go to something closer to home in the internecine political landscape of our country. You want the parties not only to get along but to work together. You want the hateful rhetoric to stop. Or something even closer to home may occur to you. You yearn for peace in your marriage or peace in your family where recent hostilities have made life unbearable.

But there exists a ruptured relationship even closer to home. It reaches to core of our being. That relationship is with the God we were created to glorify and enjoy. Not only are we born estranged from Him in our sin, our lives are empty and aimless apart from Him.

Peace deals can be brokered in the Middle East. Civility and bipartisanship can be pursued in political circles. Couples can gather around the table for counseling and mediation. But there is nothing we can do to pursue peace with God. In fact, we are not even inclined to do so. We remain ignorant and indifferent in our estrangement, even though our lives are at stake.

Yet while we were disinclined, disinterested, and deceived, God took initiative. While we could do nothing to commend ourselves to a holy God, nothing to make amends for our rebellion, God set His love upon us and sent His Son to save us. The heart of that salvation was reconciliation. God took it upon Himself to do what was necessary, what was possible only for Him to do, to reconcile sinners and restore us to relationship with Himself.

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