Reading 8: Peace with God
When our children were little our bedtime ritual included family time during which both children talked about their days, we said prayers, gave and received blessings from one another, and then when I tucked them into their beds I filled their palms with kisses. Both children would hold the kisses tightly and often fall asleep tiny fists clasping their kisses. The entire routine, but especially the kisses, assured our children that they were loved and that all was well in the world. This assurance invited them to relax and fall asleep.
In chapter 5 Paul continues what he began in the first four chapters of Roman; he lays out a theological history of what God has done in and through Christ Jesus. But in chapter 5 there is a shift. Note there are three major “therefores” in chapter 5. Here Paul points us to the “so what” of justification. Because we are justified by faith we have peace with God (vs. 1), because of Christ’s righteousness we receive God’s abundant grace (vs. 17), and because of the grace of God we will have the gift of eternal life (vs. 21). In other words, because of what God has done we are invited to relax and live into our reconciliation with God both now and in the future.
This promise does not guarantee an end to sleepless nights. In fact, Paul begins with suffering (a theme to which he will return in chapter 8). But he assures us that our suffering will not, cannot, thwart God’s will. We can live in hope for God’s future based on our assurance—our access as Paul says—to God’s grace. Because God has chosen to act in, through, and for us we will become what we are: righteous children of God.
What difference does trusting in God make in your daily life, particularly in times of suffering?
How might learning to relax, to rest in God, allow us to do the work God calls us to do?
Gracious Lord Jesus, your love for us exceeds our wildest imaginations making it sometimes so very difficult to trust. Help us to live in hope and so that we may live into the righteousness of our calling. Amen.
–-Dr. Mindy Makant is a theology professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University, a deacon in the ELCA, the wife of a parish pastor, the mother of two quasi-grown children, and a child of God. She is grateful for the many opportunities she has to work in and on behalf of the church, the body of Christ.
