When someone offends you or hurts you, how long do you hold on to the offense? Not long ago, someone I've known for many years did something that directly impacted me and offended me. I was hurt, and when I'm hurting, it's easy for me to become defensive or protective of my heart in an attempt to prevent myself from getting hurt further. It's also easy to hold a grudge which can unfortunately do damage to or sever a friendship.

As this was going on, the Holy Spirit made it clear to me that I was holding on to anger in an unhealthy way. When He convicted my heart of this, I made the decision to pray for this friend every day. In the process, I watched my anger melt away, and I can honestly say I'm rooting for this brother in Christ to do well in life.

It's one thing to experience conflict with a friend or family member, but imagine if that was the nature of your relationship with God Himself? Sadly, that's exactly what used to characterize our relationship with Him. Hostility. Separation. Conflict. But now, that can all be different. Instead of living in conflict with God, we're offered the privilege to live at peace with Him. In Romans 5:1, Paul tells us that this peace has been secured for us through Jesus Christ. The moment we place our trust in Jesus, we experience peace with God. The hostility is eradicated and the separation ends.

Living at peace with God is one of the greatest privileges we experience as believers in His Son. It's also something we should remind ourselves of regularly. This world throws a lot of things at us that try to compete with our sense of peace, but the gospel reminds us that true and lasting peace has been forever secured for us by Jesus.

That being the case, we do not need to lose hope. No matter what we may experience in this world, the peace God graciously offers His children isn't going away. Likewise, He reminds us that we can therefore rejoice in all circumstances.

II. We can rejoice in all circumstances