Thursday, June 21, 2012

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is a beautiful depiction of God's work throughout history—foundationally driven through the resurrection of Christ Jesus—to reconcile not only humanity, but creation and the entire world back into perfect union with Himself (Col. 2:19-22). The apostle Paul writes of reconciliation as one that is cosmically bigger than we, as individually-centered Westerners, often envision (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

Every Christian has the biblical responsibility to initiate action toward reconciliation. The direct teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul urge us to go and be reconciled to those with whom we have disputes. It does not matter whether the other person has something against us (Matt. 5:23-24), we believe we have been sinned against (Matt. 18:15), or if the other person is entrapped in sin (Gal. 6:1); we are to make every effort to make peace (Rom. 12:18; see also Heb. 12:14). Our responsibility to "go and be reconciled" is not excused simply because we are fearful that our words might be twisted. It is not excused if we think the other person might not listen. It is not excused if the other party indicates in e-mails that he/she will not meet with us. It is not excused if the person does not live in our town. It is not excused if the other party has widely shared his/her complaints against us. It is not excused if the whole world reads about the complaints against us in some public media. People find all kinds of excuses not to obey the teachings of Scripture, but our social practices and customs are not what guide God's people in such matters.

As we consider the above passages—and others—in their full context, we see that "going" to be reconciled requires more than e-mail, more than letters, more than blogs, and more than phone calls—it requires going to meet face-to-face. God reconciled us to Himself "while we were yet sinners" (Rom. 5:6-11); He did not wait until we desired for Him to come. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son (John 3:16). Jesus humbled Himself to become flesh (Phil. 2:1-11) and come to Earth in person to dwell among us (John 1:1, 14).

"Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:18-20).