What is it in the human condition that causes us to seek peace with God
If we are seeking peace with God, we believe that He exists and that we are accountable to Him for what we do with our lives. We realize that He has given us freedom of choice, but He also gave us a conscience to tell us what is right and wrong. The reason we seek peace with Him is that we (all of us) know that we have not always chosen right over wrong. In fact, we often have done what we knew or believed was wrong. Sensing that He sees all we do, we also sense our guilt before Him, and we want to know how we can be forgiven – not just for what we’ve already done but also for failures that may occur in the future. Without forgiveness we know that eventually we will face God’s judgment for all the wrong we did and the good we should have done but failed to do.
The good news is that God loves us and has done a wonderful thing for us so we can be forgiven. The Bible (Acts 20:21) says to have peace with God, to have forgiveness, and to be saved from God’s judgment on our wrongdoings, we must approach Him in an attitude of repentance and have faith in the wonderful thing He has done for us through Jesus Christ. Repentance means a couple of things. First, it means you admit to yourself and to God that you have done things you know were wrong. As mentioned above all of us know we have done wrong, and the Bible (Romans 3:23) confirms it. None is truly righteous – completely without sin – what the Bible calls wrongdoing. Sin is a wrong action, ugly words, or an impure or evil thought. Repentance also means that with remorse and contrition you want to and choose to turn from wrongdoing and start living the way you believe God wants you to live. Everyone who comes to God seeking forgiveness must come to Him in an attitude of repentance.
Genuine repentance shows God you are serious about change and prepares your heart to understand and believe what God has already done so that you can be forgiven and have peace with Him. Note it is what God has done – we cannot save ourselves. We can do nothing to earn or merit forgiveness (Ephesians 2:8-9) – it is a gift from God (Romans 6:23). Here is where faith comes in. Faith means you believe to the point of trusting in or relying on what God has done. Read on below to see the amazing, wonderful thing God did to rescue us from our sin.