As Christians, we are called to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world. So what does it mean to be reconciled?
To be reconciled means to be reunited with someone from whom one has been alienated. Forgiveness can lead to restored fellowship. Sin leads to alienation from God, but through Christ, we can be forgiven and reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal though us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Sometimes it isn’t easy to do the right thing, to be reconciled, or to reconcile with others. We may even be persecuted for it. Matthew 10:20 says “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.” Remember God sometimes uses momentary failure for success in His time.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
When we are reconciled with God through Christ Jesus, we must do the same and share the love of God. “ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and deliver up my body as a martyr, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not hold a grudge or indulge in self praise; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things ,endures all things.” 1st Corinthians 13:1-7.
“For I am sure that nothing can separate us from the love God has for us. Not death, not life, not angels, not ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, or anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.
God’s redeeming grace uplifts us, frees us, and strengthens us. It awakens us to the greatest reality of our lives—God’s redeeming love and the spiritual connection we have with God and others being made in his image.
Don’t let anything separate us from sharing the love of God the father with our fellow man.
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