The truth is innate, believe it or not. We don’t have to be told the truth to know the truth. According to God, it is there, obvious, ever since Eden. The invisible God, His invisible character, the fact that He’s eternal, powerful, and divine—this is all as plain as the nose on your face. We are all, somehow, born knowing this (Romans 1:20).
But those who knew God (or should have known God) but bought the lie anyway did so because even though they knew God, 1) they did not honor Him as God or 2) give thanks (Romans 1:21).
More than breathing, eating, and sleeping combined, we are made for the desperate pursuit of God. Why do you think religion comes so naturally to us? It’s not because primitive people had to explain what science had yet to unravel. It’s because we are made to worship and worship we shall.
If we do not honor God as God, then we will honor something else as God. If we do not give thanks to God (see Israel and the golden cow debacle), we will give thanks to something else. And if Satan has sold us the lie that God is not God and that the truth is not true, then our natural praise, emanating from us with every beat of our heart, will find somewhere else to go. And the most natural place is to the one who occupies God’s seat as authority.
If peace matters, then know this: it comes from believing the truth. It comes from living the truth. It comes when God is your authority on what is true. If I believe Satan’s lies, I am giving away God’s place. If I act on Satan’s lies, I am giving away God’s praise.
There is no peace if God is not God. There is no peace if I act like God is not God. Perhaps the first step back toward peace is to put God back on His throne.
Excerpt from “Peace and How to Keep It.”