Saving the Relationship // Romans 5:1

Think about a time when you were in a broken relationship with a loved one. Maybe you were arguing with your spouse, parent, child, friend, etc. How did it feel, even when you weren’t around that person? It leaves kind of a gnawing feeling, doesn’t it? Everything just feels “off” because things with a key person in your life are out of balance. That’s how it is with God because of our sin. He knows what causes that feeling, but we aren’t entirely sure ourselves until we come to grips with the depth of God’s love.

Today’s verse comes in a very important section about how God chose to make things right between Himself and humanity. The end of Romans chapter four discusses Abraham’s faith and acknowledges how he came some 2,000 before Jesus’ birth. This helps explain God’s plan for salvation that spans all of human history. The Apostle Paul used the word, justification — which means to be made right with God — and explains it comes through faith in God, believing in what is not readily seen. That brings us God’s peace, which isn’t just a peaceful easy feeling, but a restored relationship with God. To say it a different way, it’s that inner sense that everything is going to be alright.

Saint Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” God’s justifying grace in Jesus helps ease the feelings that things are *off* by granting us a peace that the world cannot give. And remember, that peace isn’t just a warm, fuzzy feeling, but the assurance that all is right in that central relationship. It’s like making up with your loved one and continuing your day knowing you’re ok even when the rest of the world feels like it’s spinning out of control. That’s the peace of God and the gift Jesus longs to give (see John 14:27).