SHALOM SHALOMSample

Isaiah 57:21

There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

The unrighteous is an enemy of God. God is angry with the wicked every day. God hates unrighteousness. An unrighteous man should never expect peace, because he is in great enmity with God. But for those of us who are born again, we are no longer in the category of the wicked and unrighteous. We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). And because we have been made righteous, we need to know that we ought to walk as the righteous people that we are. Becoming righteous through our faith in Christ opened us up to enjoying peace with God. It is therefore expedient that we walk worthy of our calling.

We are not like the world, so we can't have peace in our hearts when we walk like them. The Spirit of Jesus in us convicts us of such things. We lose our peace whenever we live against our true identity as righteous people. Walking in disobedience causes us to lose our peace. And when we lose our peace, it is actually the mercy of God to bring us back on track. To fully and daily enjoy God's peace in our hearts we must walk as righteous men that we are. Whenever we err we must be quick to repent and get back on track. The peace of God in our hearts is a signal that we are walking and living the way God designed us to live. At one point or the other, we all err but the ability to stay on course is dependent on our sensitivity to how much of the peace of God we have in our hearts.

Sin is evil because it breaks the fellowship between the believer and God. The result of such a break in fellowship is losing one's peace. We must never trivialize losing our peace. Every time we discover that our peace is being tampered with we must be quick to withdraw from walking out of God's will to walking in His will.

Action Point:

Commit to living according to your identity as a righteous child of God. Whenever you stray from God's will, promptly repent and realign yourself with His purposes. Let the peace of God serve as a guide, indicating whether you're walking in obedience or straying from His path.