How Can We Find Peace With God?

1/12/19        Joel

How can we find peace with God?

A brief conversation on the sidewalk with a man named Joel, who was kind enough to stop and talk though in somewhat of a hurry, helped me to see a common misunderstanding of Christianity that I’ll write about. Joel commented that one thing that troubles him about Christianity is that there is no “atonement”, which to him means that we can’t make up or “pay” for our sins.

Really, though, Christianity is all about atonement. It is arguably the central message of Christianity. "Atonement" is what is required for us as sinners to be reconciled, or at peace with God. The relationship that was broken by Adam’s sin and continues with our own can be made right once again.

Our sin can indeed be atoned for, but this atonement can’t be done by our own efforts. It is something only God can, and did, do when He gave His Son on our behalf. 1 John 4:10 tells us “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Joel was right, in a sense, for there is no atonement for our sins on the part of us sinful human beings, but the good news is that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We can be “at one” with our Creator, thanks to Jesus!

See our conversation at https://youtu.be/pNXLn9KbzyY on my YouTube channel.