Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 (NKJV)
Can you have peace with God before you clean up all the messes in your life? Yes, absolutely!
Here’s why: Jesus was the final and complete sacrifice for sin. Now, first-century Jews struggled to comprehend that God no longer required perfect obedience or animal sacrifices for them to enjoy right-standing with Him. They could hardly fathom that when you believed on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, you received the gift of salvation and your sins were permanently forgiven (not just temporarily like it was under the old covenant).
When we accept what Jesus won for us through the cross, we receive a new nature on the inside. The Bible calls this re-creation being “born again” (1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17). On top of that, despite how messed up we are, He gives us His peace.
That doesn’t mean we don’t still sin or make mistakes—we all have to deal with old habits. However, notice that it doesn’t say we have peace with God by living perfectly. As today’s verse points out, as believers in Christ, we’re now justified by our faith. The word “justified” means God sees us as though we’ve never sinned.
Now I’m not saying we should intentionally live wrong because our choices always have consequences. But what’s phenomenal about the Gospel is it changes us from the inside out and empowers us to clean up our lives. It doesn’t happen the other way around.
Through Christ, if you’re a believer, God is at peace with you. His Spirit within you will empower you to change so that your outer world starts to match your inner world. What life-changing news it is!