When I was a kid growing up in Arkansas, at Christmas, my mother would fill our stockings with all kinds of sweet delights. However, at the top of the stocking was always an orange along with a small box of cereal.
Mom’s rule was simple: my three sisters and I had to eat the orange and the box of cereal before we could dive into the candy.
Throughout life, we face circumstances which require us to perform one action before moving to the second action. That proves out daily in our lives.
Therefore, consider this: You can never experience the peace of God until you possess peace with God. The problem is we believe we can create our own versions of establishing peace with God.
An example is the person who asserts he definitely believes God exists. Therefore, based on his belief in the existence of God, he now possesses peace with God.
Other powerless assertions exist: “I joined the church when I was ten.” “I was baptized when I was a baby.” “I find God in nature.” “I gave twenty bucks to a homeless guy.” “I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and that’s all I was required to do.”
Two generals in the midst of war meet. One says, “I’ve decided to establish peace with you. However, I’m keeping all the ground I’ve conquered.” The other general replies, “Hold on. I haven’t agreed to that. There’s no peace between us.”
In the same way, we mere humans can’t devise our own methodology of peace with the eternal, omnipotent God. I’m certain it has to be on His terms rather than our own. This is important because our eternal destination hangs in the balance. No one obtains heaven unless he makes peace with God. Hell is plump with people who never made peace with God.
The holiness of God stipulates He must be entirely predisposed to annihilate sin and evil. Psalm 5:4-7 describes this passionately: “For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.”
If I commit one sin against God, I’m included in the people described in those verses. It only takes one. It’s important we understand that. The book of James supports this: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of it all.” (James 2:10)
The trail goes as follows: I commit one sin. I am now a lawbreaker. Doesn’t matter the severity of the crime, I’m a lawbreaker. God promises to deal extremely harsh with every lawbreaker. He cannot do otherwise, and remain perfectly holy. Therefore, I can never have peace with God. It’s over for me.
I may be tempted to declare my membership in a church or shout out my date of baptism. I could even produce a list of all the good acts I’ve done for mankind through the years in hopes of negating my one sin.
It won’t, however. Let’s return to the two generals. One general says to the other general, “Yes, I was wrong invading your country. But my people made me general, so I must be an okay guy. So this war between us is over. Have a good day. By the way, I’m keeping your land.”
How is that even logical? Does the other general then say, “Even though you’ve done wrong against me, because you declared yourself an okay guy—well, that changes everything. Why don’t you stop over for supper sometime?”
When we rebel against God, disobeying Him in even the miniscule things, we must acknowledge we can never have peace with Him. We must then acknowledge we will never spend eternity with Him but will be dispatched to Hell forever.