She had been heavily involved in the counterculture, including drugs and all the rest of it. Now she was trying to find her way back and had discovered it wasn’t easy. She had become friends with one of the young men on campus, and he brought her to my office for counsel.

As she described her dilemma, telling of her disillusionment with what the world had to offer, but admitting to her inability to change the habit patterns to which she had become enslaved, something clicked in my mind. She sounded like a description given in the book Steps to Christ, page 49.

So we opened the book and read it together.

“As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him–what can you do to obtain it?”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s me. That’s my problem. Quick! Tell me the answer. What can I do?”

Stop with me for a moment and consider what the answer might be. The first paragraph describes a messed-up life. The Holy Spirit has been working on the heart, and the person has become aware of a great need. But he has also become aware of a great helplessness. He can’t seem to gain the victory over his life of sin, and he is asking how to be free. What does he need in order to be forgiven and cleansed?

If you are a behaviorist, your first response would be in the area of performance. You might say,

“This person needs to try harder to do what’s right. He mustn’t give up. He must choose to obey God, and God will then give him whatever power he needs to follow through on that choice.”

If you are a relationist, your first response might be that the person described here needs to read the Bible and pray more.

If you are a religionist, you might advise that the solution lies in joining a church, associating with other believers.

But what is the answer given in Steps to Christ? The very next sentence, still on page 49, says:

“It is peace that you need.” (Emphasis supplied.)

What an answer! That sounds like telling a man who is dying of thirst that he needs water. Or telling a child dying of starvation that he needs food. Or telling a family on the verge of bankruptcy that it needs money. How can someone have peace when his life is in confusion?

But wait.

“It is peace that you need–Heaven’s forgiveness and peace and love in the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift, ‘without money and without price.’… It is yours if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it.” – Ibid.

Consider a child who is growing and developing. Does he ever make mistakes? Does he ever fall or fail? Does he ever do foolish things? How should we treat him? It is a universal and timeless principle that the only one who can grow out of his mistakes and failures is the one who is loved and accepted while he is making them.

What about learning to drive? Do you remember what that was like? Did you do it all right the first time around? The only one who is going to learn to drive is the one who is allowed to make mistakes and still keep trying.

Have you ever started a new job? Did you do everything perfectly from the first day onward? Or did your boss expect you to take some time to learn? When a new employee comes to work, even the business world makes allowances for his inexperience. He isn’t fired the first time he fails at something. Instead, he is accepted and affirmed while he learns. That’s the only environment in which a person can relax and remember the right way to do things.

Jesus said to the woman taken in adultery,

“Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11.

The only person who can hope to go and sin no more is the one who knows he’s not condemned. Peace must come first. Peace brings release.