Reconciliation
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 13028 |
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March 4, 2007 |
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 "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ … and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
The term "reconciliation" refers to "the state of established, or the process of arriving at, peace" among involved parties. If our will corresponded to those with whom we come in frequent contact and had affable relationships, we would be leading joyous lives. What could possibly pose as a challenge when every person became one in heart and mind, in peace and friendship, at home or workplace with others? Our lives would be more fulfilling and blissful if we were at peace with all people.
What, then, is true reconciliation and what steps can we take to achieve it?
1.We must first be reconciled with God through Jesus Christ.
God has created man and embarked on and is continuing with his cultivation of mankind so that He would gain true children with whom He could share love. For these reasons God formed man in His image and planted in their heart spiritual knowledge, but as man committed the sin of disobeying God's Word man's relationship with Him became irreconcilable. As a fallout from his sin, man lost his authority to which he had been entitled as a child of God and arrived at death (Romans 6:23).
The God of love, however, first extended His hand of reconciliation to the mankind who had been created in His image in order to place them on the path to salvation. God sent into this world His Only Begotten Son Jesus, allowing Him to be crucified to redeem us from all of our sins. On this the first half of 2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us, "Now all [these] things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ," while 1 John 2:2 reminds us that Jesus Christ "Himself is the propitiation for our sins."
In order to reconcile with mankind the sinners, God acted first by wholly sacrificing Jesus on the cross. To anyone who believes Jesus to be his Savior, God has given forgiveness of all sins, the Holy Spirit as a divine gift, and the authority as a child of God. In this regard, Galatians 4:6 tells us, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'"
Achieving reconciliation with God, therefore, requires each of us to be born again as His child by our faith in Jesus Christ and to no longer have anything to do with sin and evil. Committing sins will break the peace we establish with God, which will only result in our making room for the work of the enemy devil and Satan and forfeiting the God-given authority to which we had been entitled as His children.
As He tells us in Jeremiah 5:25, "Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you," while God desires us to give His children only good things our sins have formed a wall that stands in our way to Him, thus effectively cutting ourselves from His answers and blessings. However, when we commit no sins, live by God's Word, and walk in the light, in our peace with God we will receive whatever we ask Him in prayer.
In a peaceful and affluent family, parents make every effort to satisfy their children's demands and requests. Now, what could possibly prohibit the Creator and our Father God from giving His children the things they desire? Our Lord tells us in Matthew 7:11, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"
Furthermore, as Scriptures is very clear in 1 John 3:21-22, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight," by staying away from sinning and being at peace with God, we will have gained confidence before Him and thus nothing will be impossible for us.
2.As children of God, we are to be at peace – be reconciled – with all people.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 read, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature … and [God] gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Here, by telling us that God "gave us the ministry of reconciliation," the Bible reminds us that as each of us have become a new creature in Christ, we are to spread the Gospel to those who dwell amidst sin and have not yet reconciled with God, and help them become children of God.
Moreover, as 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 also tell us, "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another," we are also to be reconciled with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Why, then, do many people fail to be at peace with each other? The most fundamental reason is because each person tends to insist on his own will even when he is aware his ways and frames of thought are clearly in the wrong. If each individual understood and forgave one another not by insisting on his own will but in accordance with the truth, he would be able to achieve reconciliation.
Above all, the boundary of a "family" is a realm in which love and peace must abound. As a Korean adage tells us, "When one's home is in harmony, all goes well," when a family is at peace, we witness time and again how the rest of the affairs prosper. This is because, when reconciliation is realized in the truth, prayers will be answered more quickly and good things will never cease from occurring. Even Proverbs 17:1 reminds us, "Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife."
In order for family members to be reconciled and at peace with each other, the most fundamental ingredient is the peace between the spouses. People who can be at peace with their spouses can achieve full reconciliation with their children. As children see and learn how their parents treat each other, the children will learn to be at peace among themselves and the entirely family will be at peace. Keep in mind that reconciliation between the husband and the wife is not that difficult.
Ephesians 5:28 reads, "So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself," while 1 Peter 3:1 reminds us, "In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any [of them] are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives."
If both the husband and the wife lived by God's Word, no spouses would be in conflict. If the husband kept telling his wife to "be submissive" without obeying God's decree, "Love your own wives as your own bodies," and if the wives only expected to receive without any good behavior," how could peace possibly exist between such a couple? Reconciliation may yet be restored, however, if one of the spouses – be it the husband or the wife – first humbled him/herself and served the other. Extending out our hands and humbling ourselves, in a fleshly sense, take a momentous toll on our pride but spiritually, this is how one becomes a greater vessel in God's sight.
One day, Queen Elizabeth I quarreled with her husband. After a day of work, the queen returned to her residence, only to find the door locked. Her husband was so upset from the argument with her from earlier that day that he had locked his wife out. The queen took offense and, in a firm and loud voice, said, "I, Elizabeth, the Queen of Great Britain, command you to unlock and open this door!" No response was heard, however.
Realizing that she had made a mistake, the queen changed her strategy. In a loving and tender voice she said, "Dear, this is your beloved wife Elizabeth? It is cold out here. Will you please open the door and let me in?" The door opened immediately.
Achieving reconciliation is very easy and simple; it only requires each of us to humble ourselves and put the other person first. This easily untangles all the hurt and the pain from the other's heart. Yet, people find this difficult because, as they keep insisting on their own will over that of others, they are unable to humble themselves.
At home, workplace, or any other situation in which you find yourself, when you wholly humble yourself in the truth and wholeheartedly serve others, God will be delighted and sure to give you the desires of your heart. He will work so that you will be reconciled even with those who would make themselves your enemies and be loved and commended by others.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if we profess that we desire to see God face to face as frequently as you want and embrace our Lord in heaven after our life in this world had come to an end, each of us has to become "a peacemaker" (Hebrews 12:14; Matthew 5:9).
May each of you come to clearly grasp the secret to be at peace and reconciled with God and with all people so that you will not only lead a life filled with joy in this world but also dwell in New Jerusalem, the most beautiful of all heavenly dwelling place, and be an heir to eternal bliss and blessing, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray!
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