Our Present Possession

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Monday, August 25, 2014

God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
— Colossians 1:19-20

Many of the blessings the Bible promises are still in our future. The hope of heaven and our new, wonderful resurrection bodies is still ahead. But the peace of God? That is our present possession. That is something that belongs to us here and now. From the first moment that we place our faith in Christ, we can begin to experience the peace of God.

Philippians 4:7 promises, "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."I know this peace in my life, and if you belong to Jesus, I'm sure you know it as well. I can think back to the day when I put my faith in Christ at age seventeen. One of the first things I remember is a sense of peace filling my heart. It was as though someone had slipped a heavy backpack from my shoulders. It wasn't until later when I read that the Bible promises peace.

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Many people think that peace is simply an absence of conflict or anxiety. To imagine it on a dial, they think if they could get the needle out of the negative red zone and up to "normal,"they would be experiencing peace. But biblical peace is much more than that. It is a strong, elevating, positive good in our lives. It isn't just an absence of anxiety; it is the presence of something wonderful beyond our comprehension.

Peace has been given to us as a gift from God because we have been justified by faith. It isn't describing a feeling; it's describing a fact. It doesn't come from what we are, but from what He has done.

It's a cause and effect in our lives. The cause: being justified by faith in Christ. The effect: peace beyond any human explanation. But you can't have the effect without the cause. In other words, you can't have the peace of God until you first have peace with God. If we are fighting with God and continually resisting His plan and purpose for our lives, then we won't experience His peace.