Day Nine: The Gift of Reconciliation

THE GIFT OF RECONCILIATION

II Corinthians 5: 18-19 “But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Acts 7:26 “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’”

One of the definitions of “reconcile” according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is:

1 : to restore to friendship or harmony

Reconciliation comes as a result of forgiveness. If you missed the devotional on forgiveness, please go back to Day Eight and read that topic. You need to understand what it means to truly forgive someone before you can understand reconciliation. 

God takes reconciliation seriously. So much so that he addresses it in Matthew 5:22-24:  "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. ‘Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,  leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. (emphasis mine).

If there is someone who has something against you, why not go to them as the Bible says and be reconciled?  It doesn’t matter who started the argument. It doesn’t matter what the argument was about. It doesn’t matter where the fault lies. It will not matter six months from now. But what will matter is that you are obedient to what God’s Word says. Go back to the top of this blog and read 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 again. God loved us so much that He reconciled us to Him through His Son and does not count our trespasses against us because of that reconciliation.  How can we do any less than obey Him by seeking reconciliation with the person who has something against us?

Abba Father, thank You for reconciling us to You and for giving us the ministry of reconciliation. Help us to have courage to approach those who have something against us and ask their forgiveness. We pray this in Your name, AMEN.