Skip to main content

Reconciliation?

             that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (II Corinthians 5:19-20)

Reconciliation comes from Latin terms meaning “again” and “to make friendly.” But since we’re talking about being reconciled to God, that’s just the same-old, same-old. God doesn’t hold our sins against us. He forgives our sins. He gives us new life. It’s good, of course, but what more can be said?

The first thing is that it was written to the church at Corinth. Why would they need to be reconciled to God? Paul wasn’t writing about the past. He told the Corinthians to be reconciled to God. Why? One good reason is that while God doesn’t hold our sins against us, that doesn’t mean we don’t stop sinning. As we repeatedly rebel, we have to be repeatedly reconciled.

But let’s consider another possibility. Have you ever been angry with God? There are times when I’ve told God that I was angry enough with Him that I really didn’t want to talk to Him, or have anything to do with Him. In the next breath, I told Him I recognized that my “Go away, I don’t want anything to do with You” wasn’t a good answer. It wasn’t even what I really wanted. It was just what I wanted then.

We tend to think and talk about forgiveness and reconciliation as what God does in His relationship with us. After all, He’s perfect. He can’t sin. All He does is right, true, and good – perfectly with His own moral wisdom and purity. That does not mean that, from our perspective, God does not sin. Ultimately, it means that our perspective is incorrect, but the point is that there are times when God does things we don’t approve of or doesn’t do what we insist He should. That doesn’t mean that God has actually done anything objectively wrong. It means that He hasn’t done what we want Him to. We may be deeply offended and may feel justified in our anger.

It is quite possible that we need to forgive God, and along with that forgiveness, we may need to participate in rebuilding the relationship. We need to be reconciled with God no matter the cause of the separation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more