Peace with God and Then Peace in You Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Peace with God and Then Peace in You’ -------------------------- Date: 4/14/2001 Keywords: "faith" "peace" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Romans 5:1* Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Questions 1. In your problems, do you have a bedrock assurance that God is for you?   2. Do you feel rejected by God because of your problems with pornography?   Practical help What is Christianity? Is it a group of religious people who have a common heritage? Is it the strict adherence to certain rules with the ultimate objective of achieving favor with God? If you are looking at Christianity sociologically, by studying group behavior, you will miss the good news. The essence of Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You have the opportunity for such a relationship extended to you, not because of what you have done, are doing or ever will do to earn it. Jesus has opened the door of access to God for you. The "faith" mentioned in the verse above is not faith in yourself or a general impression that God will overlook your deficiencies. By trusting Jesus Christ, you are "justified," which means that your sin-debt has been paid in full. The result? Peace with God. He is not hunting you down. He has welcomed you as a child and now treats you as a member of the family. Now, people will often hesitate trusting God until all their questions are answered. If you feel you need more information then click here, but if your problem is that you don’t know if it will work or if God will come through for you, then your problem is one of trying to maintain personal control. You have the freedom to choose to stay in charge of your own life even though there is plenty of evidence that it isn’t working. But it’s a dead end. Trusting God requires that you stop running away from him and admit you have a problem you can’t fix. You must give up and turn around. Pornography, anger, dishonest acts, selfishness, and all the rest that we try to skirt over in the attempt to justify ourselves have to be acknowledged to our Heavenly Father. To come to Christ is to become real with yourself and with God. Then He justifies you. After that is the journey to grow and overcome, but not in your strength any longer. Now God takes over, and you come along for the ride — of your life! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."