Dear Minister: How do I Make My Peace with God Before I Leave This World?

– Afraid and Concerned

Have you made your peace with God?

You might be thinking – no I haven’t really given it much thought. Most of us do not give much thought to being “okay” with God until we have to. Many of us have had little to show for when it comes to spiritual fruit. Or spiritual interest for that matter.

People all over the earth are searching for inner peace. They sing songs about it and travel on pilgrimages to hopefully discover it. They even wage war to protect it. Many wealthy, famous, and powerful people would trade everything for just one moment or season of peace. What they often find, however, is the world’s false and temporary peace which is different from the peace offered by God.

The Bible says that the first step toward experiencing real, lasting peace is to make peace with God. Unless things are right in that department, it will be difficult to experience peace anywhere else. Unless there is peace vertically, there will be little to no peace internally nor horizontally. How could there be?

In my travels over the last 30+ years, the answers to “Have you made your peace with God” can be reduced to three responses:

• Yes, I have.        
• No, I have not.
• I am not really sure                                                                                                                                          

Which one do you think is the most popular response? If your guess is, “I am not really sure” you would be right. But let’s look first at…

No, I have not. Usually, I get THIS answer from a person who is searching and thinking a lot about life and death and general happiness. They are pretty sure that they have not found peace with God. It is important to know – God is not at war with you. But, by your own fallen nature coupled with God’s perfect nature, you (and I) are at war with Him and most of us do not even know that we are. You see, when there’s hostility between you and God, it’s a one-way battle.

When you say, No I have not, you are admitting that from your vantage point (and probably from God’s as well) you are not friends with God, and you are not okay with Him, and you are keenly aware of it. For all these years, you have had no real peace with God. The thought of dying deep down scares you! An unexplainable uneasiness permeates your soul.

If you say, yes, I have, the question is, how do you know? On what basis do you have this confidence? You can have that confidence, but you can be confidently wrong and that would be eternally tragic.

Most say, I am not really sure. The question is, how can you be sure you know this peace? What do you need to do to find this peace?

Romans 5:1 says, “Be justified by faith we experience peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul lets us know how we can experience peace with God before we leave this earth and how we can be confident that we will spend eternity with Him.

“Being justified by faith” means that we are made right and at peace with God through our trust in Him and His Son’s saving work on the cross and through His resurrection. Paul says if we do that, we have confident and assured peace with God because it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is really no other way to make your peace with God except by this means. Your work. Your good life. Your giving spirit is simply not enough, because remember you must surrender to God because you are His enemy.

So, do you have peace with God the way God has requested? Whoever calls on the name of the Lord – will be saved. Will you choose the internal peace that you have longed for all of your life. The ball is in your court.

Rev. Chris J. Gregas is a Hospice Chaplain, a Pastor and has written 31 books.

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From the Bible: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9