Please Make Peace with God

This is God's Creation. All that He has made is subject to Him and obligated to know and obey Him. He created all things in perfection and made Man lord under Him over all the earth and everything in it. Man was never permitted to do as he pleased, but was expected and required to live by God's way of life. Perfection, holiness, righteousness, these all mean to walk in God's ways. Anything else is imperfection, corruption, wickedness, because it is not what God Himself would do; it is not how God would act.

Of course, Man was given the choice to trust and obey the Lord of Creation, or to go his own way. The first man and every one of his descendants (including you and me) have all chosen to go their own way, in rebellion and self-will. Rejection of God, His rule, is commonly called sin; it is imperfection, corruption, wickedness. Rejection of God deserves removal from His creation: death and eternal torment.

God had every right to destroy Adam and Eve the moment they disobeyed Him. Instead, He chose mercy and grace. He didn't remove the consequence of their rebellion, but delayed the execution of their sentence. He set a limit on their lifespan so that one day, God's sentence against them would be carried out: They would one day die and face Him in judgment. If they had repented, believed God and lived in obedience to Him, and paid for their sin with a substitute life, they would be accepted. If they refused to repent, refused to make peace with God, refused to accept His rule over their lives, they would be condemned.

God did not stand far off from Adam and Eve or their descendants. He did not reject them, but was available to them, to be found by them so they could walk and talk with Him. But the choice was theirs: To confess their wrong, seek Him out and learn to do right, or continue to go their own way, figure things out on their own, decide for themselves what would be right and what would be wrong.

God is good and holy and righteous and just. He is love and His deeds and words define what true love is. To refuse to know God and walk in His ways is to continue in rebellion on the path to eternal condemnation.

But God wants to make peace with us. Sin, rebellion, self-will rule in our thoughts and hearts. We carry with us an ever-lengthening list of the rules and laws and ways we have gone against. That list will testify against us when we enter God's judgment. There is only one way to clear that list: Sin must be paid for by death. God provided the one death that could pay for all sin: His Own.

God Himself took on flesh and blood to become a man fully like ourselves: Jesus. He is fully God and so walks perfectly in His own ways, and has the power of creation in Himself. He proved His righteousness, holiness and "godness" by His sinless life lived among us two thousand years ago, and by the countless miracles performed during that life.

In the end, He submitted Himself to the plan of God and the hatred of men to become the one perfect sacrifice for all sin. He endured the beating, humiliation and death on a cross, so that all who were willing to return to God, submit to Him, might receive His sacrifice as payment for the debt of sin they owed.

He again proved His own righteousness and holiness, and proved the power of His death to forgive sin by rising from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion. He showed Himself alive, in a new indestructible body, to many people after His death. They in turn became witnesses in their own communities and beyond, that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died to pay for sin, rose to life again, and promises forgiveness of sin and eternal life to all who believe this news and turn to walk in obedience to Him.

Jesus has been appointed by God to reign as King over the whole earth. He has also been appointed judge of both the living and the dead—all mankind from the beginning of creation to the end of this age. He rules in obedience to God, His Father, and all who believe in Him must recognize His authority to rule and submit to His command.

God has never been far off; He has always been available to any who seek Him. He has left a record of His words and deeds in the history of man, called the Bible. More than that, He comes to dwell, as Holy Spirit, within those who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

To seek God and find Him has never been difficult. It does take time to read the Bible. It does take humility to obey the Bible. It does take faith to believe that Jesus is God's Son and the only effective sacrifice for sin, and the resurrected and coming King of Creation. But God's Spirit, dwelling in those who believe Jesus, gives us everything we need to give God the priority He deserves in our life, to understand what He has written about Himself and what He desires for us, and to conform our life to His likeness.

The choice is always yours: Return to God as Lord of your life, believe Jesus as coming King, receive God's Spirit as instructor and strength to walk in His ways. Or carry on as usual, living life on your own terms, until you die and face Jesus as Judge who will condemn you to an eternity in darkness and fire.

Please turn back! Please save yourself! Please do not keep going your own way. Submit to God: He has made the way for you to be free from condemnation through Jesus Christ and He has made His way of life plain through the Bible. He waits to welcome you into His Kingdom!

Apologize to Him. Ask Him to forgive you on the basis of Jesus' death and resurrection. Commit yourself to learning His ways by spending time each day reading His Book.

Start from the beginning, from Genesis. Read a chapter, see what it says. If what it says seems unbelievable to you, humbly accept it as true. Does He speak of behaviors He doesn't like? Avoid them in your own life. Does He speak of behaviors He does desire? Put them into practice.

Then read the next chapter. See who God is. What do you learn about Him? What do you learn about people, and by extension, yourself? Change the things in your life that He doesn't like, replace them with what He does praise. Don't be overwhelmed by how many things you've gotten wrong. Focus on one thing a day. God is patient with you; He's already been waiting so long for you to finally hear and believe Him. He will be pleased that you're finally listening to Him.

Talk to God about what you're discovering in the Bible. Ask Him to help you put His ways into practice. Ask Him for ways to live out His instructions. Talk with Him about how things go in your day, whether you do well or not. Learn from your mistakes as much as you learn from your successes.

Don't expect Him to answer audibly, but don't be surprised if you suddenly realize He has spoken to you. Everything He says will be in agreement with what He has taught in the Bible. He will never tell you privately, personally, that it's OK for you to go against anything He has written there. That is another voice, either your old rebellious self or thoughts from our rebellious society or words from a rebel angel (the devil himself or one of his fallen angels).

Find other Christians who are likewise committed to knowing and honoring God by learning from the Bible and doing what it says. Learn with them, learn from those who have been walking with God longer than you.

But don't be surprised when you meet some Christians who don't diligently seek to know and obey God. They're out there, and they're one reason Christians have a bad name in society. Not every church is a good church. Don't follow their example.

Look for those Christians who are diligently seeking to know and live for God. You'll recognize them by their similarity to godly people you're reading about in the Bible. You'll recognize them by their practice of the behaviors you're reading about in the Bible.

Feel free to contact me at the email below. I'd be glad to help you as best I can.