Bible reading: Genesis 31-32; Matthew 22:24-46
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” – Romans 5:1 KJV
Scripture tells us that Jacob cursed his first born Reuben saying, “UNSTABLE AS WATER, you SHALL NOT EXCEL, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—(Genesis 49:4). This is because Reuben slept with Bilhah – Jacob’s concubine. (Genesis 35:22)
The animosity between Jacob and Reuben influenced the tribe of Reuben. They were truly unstable as water. When the children of Israel got into the promised land of Canaan, the tribe of Reuben struggled to settle in the land (Numbers 32:1-19). Men and women struggle to take their possessions and inheritance in life when there is no peace or rest within because of their disconnect from God like Reuben and his father – Jacob.
The Greek word for peace in our text means ‘to be at rest’ or ‘to be reconnected.’ It literally means prosperity. It is the peace of God that we have on the inside that manifests around us as prosperity. Without God’s peace, men struggle in life. Jesus taught this truth in Mark 7:21-23 saying, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.“ Man’s struggle has never been because of external factors; man was created to dominate externalities! The struggle has always been from inside.
Reuben wasn’t at peace with his father Jacob and it made him unstable as the waters and this is the fate of the person without God but the Goodnews is that Jesus came and paid the price for all our wrong deeds and today we have peace with our heavenly Father. When we receive this peace, it makes us rock solid to take possession of all that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Our text says because we have been justified by our faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross for our sins, we have peace with God. We are completely and totally forgiven. We are justified and the effect of justification is peace and once peace is born in the human heart, it is the most powerful force for healing and harmony, for love and kindness, for success and achievement in this world.
You have perfect peace with God. He is no longer angry with you because you are in Christ Jesus. This consciousness in our spirit is what makes everything on the outside to work for our good in Jesus mighty name.
PRAYER: Father, I thank you for the peace I have in Christ Jesus.