Peace Is Our Portion
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1
There is only one way of salvation, and that is God’s way. God has outlined the road to heaven. He has made the rules simple and plain. He has given us the equation and the compass.
The way outlined in His immutable Book is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Jesus said he that climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber. It is the way of the cross that leads home. It is the grace of God and only the grace of God that brings salvation.
Grace implies that we cannot work for salvation. We cannot make our own way to heaven. We can only come God’s way and that is by receiving His unmerited favor in Christ Jesus.
On that memorable night two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, the angels hovered over the Judean hills and sang in unison, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
The centuries have rolled by, and still the world longs for and looks for the peace that the angels sang about on that first Christmas morning. “Where is His peace?” you ask.
I’ll tell you where it is. It abides in the hearts of all who have trusted His grace. And in the same proportion that the world has trusted in Christ, it also has peace. I could say to the leaders of all governments today that there can be no lasting peace until Christ has come to the hearts of men and brought His peace.
There is no discord, there is no strife in heaven, for Christ reigns supreme there. There is no conflict in the heart where Christ abides, for His words, “Peace I leave with you” (John 14:27), have been proven in the test tubes of human experience over and over again, in the lives of those who have trusted His grace.
Our Father and our God, You are the God of grace and peace, and I praise Your magnificent name! I long for the ultimate peace of heaven. Still, I thank You for the peace I have already in my heart because of Jesus. Please help me to share that peace with others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).