“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Romans 5:1-5 NKJV
The church my husband and I go to, First Baptist Church of Carbon Hill, has a Bible reading plan that we have been utilizing. Today’s reading was Romans 5:1-5. Now when I read the Bible I also like to read a commentary along with it to help me to understand the scripture better. For Romans I am using an app I found, Enduring Word, and also a commentary book on Romans called Christ Centered Exposition Exalting Jesus in Romans. This book is what I used this morning for my Bible study time. Any quotes are taken from this book. The first thing I did after reading these 5 verses was to find some definitions. For definitions of words I use the Blue Letter Bible app. This app is amazing. You can look up the original definition of words used in the Bible, find commentaries on what you are reading, and so much more. The two words that stuck out to me to define were “justified” and “peace”. Once I read the definition of “peace” my mind started whirring. From the Blue Letter Bible app one of the definitions of “peace” is “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatever sort that is.”Wow! I sent this definition to a few friends and said, “oh to have that kind of peace.” But then I got to thinking. God gives us peace. We can have this peace, freely, but we have to accept it and use it. This kind of reminded me of a discussion we had in a class I’m taking on Tuesday nights. The Jews didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah because Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah they wanted. They wanted someone to rescue them from their earthly problems. Jesus came to rescue them, and us, from our eternal and heavenly problems. The Jews couldn’t see the big picture. Maybe they didn’t want to see the big picture. It’s kind of like us today. We pray that God would take away our trials. We don’t want to suffer or to be uncomfortable in any way. We seem to just skip over verses 3-4 here. These trials, these tribulations, that we endure are meant to produce growth in us. They refine us and remove impurities in us. They prepare us for eternity in Heaven with Jesus. But many times we don’t want that. We don’t embrace the trials. They are uncomfortable and we don’t want to be uncomfortable. We look at things from an earthly perspective instead of from a Heavenly perspective. “True believers are able to say, ‘it is well with my soul.’Regardless of what might be going on all around us, the believer can experience the power of God because he or she has peace with God.” What an amazing thought! But also so hard at times. “There are times in which believers do not experience the peace of God, even though we do have peace with God. We should have experiential peace, but we often do not live in it because of spiritual warfare and trouble around us.” How many times have I took my eyes off of Jesus and looked around me at the storms? So many, I am ashamed to say. It has just been within the past few years that I am starting to learn what these few verses are saying. I can rejoice in trials because I know they are making me more like Jesus. This doesn’t mean that I have to love pain or hard times, but that I can know that the results of that pain and hard time will be worth it in the end. “… trials and suffering build our character and give us confidence in God as we endure more trials to come.”
So here are 3 applications, taken from Christ Centered Exposition Exalting Jesus in Romans, that we can take away from Romans 5:1-5
1. God’s priority is not to take away all of your problems; it’s to make you like Jesus
2. God’s purpose can be trusted
3. God’s pattern can be anticipated: afflictions-endurance-character-hope
I hope you are as encouraged and hopeful with this as I was. It’s not an easy thing to accept and put to use this peace, but it is so amazing and so worth it.
All quotes taken from Christ Centered Exposition Exalting Jesus in Romans except for the definition of peace. It is from the Blue Letter Bible app.
